Washington, D.C., is home to our country’s most important democratic institutions. Yet, those living in our nation’s capital lack both their own representation in Congress and full control over their local government. Congress must address this issue and push for statehood to ensure that D.C. residents have the same representation and autonomy as other Americans.

Voting is the bedrock of our democracy. We vote for our national representatives, and through them we exert some control over how our federal tax dollars are spent and how our priorities are represented as a state and nation. Yet the 712,000 residents of Washington, D.C., are denied equal voting rights and congressional representation, simply because of where they live.

Michael Cianchette got it wrong in his recent column about D.C. statehood.

While he seems to agree that D.C.’s 700,000 residents deserve the right to federal representation, he also seems to think that proposing statehood as a solution is some sort of trick to elect more Democrats to Congress.

The Jewish News' editorial on March 16, “It is time for a voting rights compromise,” notes that D.C. statehood is “an issue worthy of serious consideration and support.” I agree and write to offer several reasons why.

“No taxation without representation!” We all heard that in our history classes in relation to the beginning of the American Revolution. It was a rallying cry that helped bring the United States of America into being.

Opponents of D.C. statehood have at most three arguments that deserve any respect. They involve the Founders’ intent, retrocession to Maryland and the 23rd Amendment.

But none stands up to scrutiny, as I’ll discuss below. It’s hard to accept that Republicans and other critics believe that these arcane constitutional claims count for more than respecting the nation’s founding rallying cry of “no taxation without representation.”

A lot of people who don’t live in Washington, D.C., have opinions against statehood. As someone who grew up in Richmond, but now has been a resident of the District of Columbia for more than a decade, I have some thoughts to share.

The introduction of HR51, a bill to make Washington, D.C. the 51st state — the “Washington, Douglas Commonwealth” — would grant its 700,000 residents the same rights enjoyed by Americans in every other state — full voting representation in Congress.

REPUBLICANS IN Congress did not use to make the case that residents of the District of Columbia deserved no representation in Congress; the issue was only how to do it. “Let’s be real, how can you argue with a straight face that D.C. should not have some direct congressional representation?” was the challenge put forward by then-Rep. Tom Davis (R-Va.) in 2004 during a House hearing on four different ways to give D.C. direct representation in Congress. Now, the Republicans’ position seems to be not only to oppose statehood. They also believe D.C. residents — taxpayers, volunteers in the military, citizens — should have no voice in their government whatsoever.

When Louis Sawyer Jr.’s family visited him, they took a 14-hour road trip on an overnight bus to get to the federal penitentiary near Jonesville, Va. And that was one of the easier trips during his 25 years in the federal prison system.

Following the Democratic State Committee’s vote to support D.C. Statehood, Maine Democratic Party Chair Drew Gattine released the following statement.

“I applaud the Democratic State Committee’s vote in support of statehood for the District of Columbia. The Reconstruction era denial of statehood was rooted in racism. Over the years, it has been upheld by racism and partisanship. Today, it denies a population that is 46% Black full membership in our democracy. This racial and democratic injustice must end. No one in the United States should have taxation without representation. We join the chorus of voices across the country saying, Give D.C. statehood now.

Food for thought: The District of Columbia’s 700,000 residents (larger in number than Vermont and Wyoming) have no voting representation in either the House of Representatives or the Senate.

Right-wing extremists attacked the Capitol on Jan. 6. The world watched as that part of the city was nearly powerless to defend itself because Washington, D.C., lacks the powers of a state. This illustrated the inequities that exist for the district’s 700,000 residents, who have no voting representation in the House of Representatives or the Senate.

Just three months after the assault on our nation’s Capitol and democracy, the U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Reform is holding a hearing on the Washington, D.C. Admission Act (H.R. 51), a bill to grant the 712,000 residents of Washington, D.C. full voting rights and representation in Congress. Delaware Senator Tom Carper has introduced companion legislation in the U.S. Senate (S. 51) with 41 co-sponsors.

The Washington, D.C., Admissions Act, HR-51 (SB-51 in the Senate), comes up for a hearing on March 22 in the House Oversight Committee. Introduced by nonvoting D.C. delegate-at-large, Eleanor Holmes Norton, HR-51 has 227 co-sponsors in the House. It would create the Douglass Commonwealth — named for famed abolitionist and D.C. resident Frederick Douglas — and carve out a federal enclave that includes Capitol Hill and the area around the White House.

Editor: The 712,000 people who call Washington, D.C. home are just like any other American. From teachers and nurses to firefighters and custodians, Washingtonians raise families, pay taxes, and fight in America’s wars. Yet, they’re deprived of full representation in Congress and are subject to the politically-motivated whims of lawmakers like Ted Cruz because of the capital’s status as a district.

I’ve been pondering the abundance of proposed bills currently in committees in the state of N.H. with which I don’t agree, and I have been giving my input to those committees in hopes of swaying members’ opinions. But as frustrated as I am with our state government, the position of citizens of Washington, D.C. is much worse.

While our history textbooks tell us that the idea of "no taxation without representation" is merely an issue of the past, far too many Americans are facing it as we speak. Most notably, more than 700,000 residents of the District of Columbia have no vote in either of our nation's houses of Congress.

On Thursday, the U.S. House Oversight Committee is scheduled to hold a hearing on H.R. 51, a bill to make Washington, D.C., the 51st state.

For years, I worked in the U.S. Capitol building as a political reporter and lived in its grand shadow on Capitol Hill. I interviewed lawmakers from around the country about issues facing their constituents, but I never talked to a voting member who represented my concerns in Congress. I paid my share of federal taxes and served jury duty, but I never got the opportunity to vote for a lawmaker who represented me.