Inside the D.C. Statehood Senate Hearing (photos)

District leaders gave an impassioned plea for D.C. statehood, claiming that to be the only remedy to correct a historic injustice, namely the inability of District residents to participate fully in American democracy.

The official name for the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs hearing that took place in the Dirksen Senate Office Building was “Equality for the District of Columbia: Discussing the Implications of S. 132, the New Columbia Admission Act of 2013.” It was the first congressional hearing on D.C. statehood in more than 20 years and was held late on Monday afternoon, Sept. 15, with only two senators in attendance, Sens. Thomas Carper (D-Del.) and Tom Coburn (R-Okla.).

Among the speakers at Monday’s packed hearing room that testified in favor of statehood were D.C. Mayor Vincent Gray, former U.S. Federal Reserve and budget official Alice Rivlin, D.C. Council Chairman Phil Mendelson, District Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton. Roger Pilon of Cato Institute spoke against the bill to make D.C. into the 51st “state of New Columbia.” Both of D.C.’s shadow senators, Paul Strauss and Michael D. Brown, made impassioned pleas for D.C. congressional representation. Also testifying during the panel on “Equality for the District of Columbia” was Viet D. Dinh, a Georgetown University Law professor who specializes in constitutional law. Dinh authored a 25-page opinion in 2004 in favor of D.C. voting representation in the House. Also testifying in favor of D.C. statehood was Wade Henderson, president and CEO of the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights. Several members of the D.C. Council were present in the gallery to lend support, including mayoral candidate Muriel Bowser.

Carper secured 18 Senate co-sponsors for the bill but didn’t have enough support from his own committee to bring the measure before the Senate for a vote. Thus, no action is planned. “My goal for this hearing” said Carper, “is to educate a new generation of people about this injustice and restart the conversation about finding a more thoughtful solution.”

View our photos from inside the hearing by clicking on the photo icons below. (All photos by Jeff Malet).