Muriel Bowser

We would have the electoral college votes that our population requires.

As Mayor of the District of Columbia, I swear an oath to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.

Our very existence could be wiped away by the whim of the Congress.

We are proud of the progress that we have made in our schools.

Statehood is the way that we get there.

I control a part of the criminal justice system. And you, on the Federal level, control the rest.

The Trump Hotel, sir, is not a Government--it does not have a Government use.

Well, it's being treated like all of the other hotels, sir.

We have been very committed in our city to transparency in government and, in fact, have been very proud to advance some of the toughest transparency rules, ethics rules, data transparency rules anywhere in the Nation.

Certainly, I can speak for the residents of Washington, DC. who have overwhelmingly endorsed statehood, and we are ready for statehood.

In fact, we do a better job than most states. We have a budget of $15.5 billion, which we have balanced 24 times in the last 24 years.

What's more, we pay more Federal taxes per capita than any state, and we pay more Federal taxes total than 22 states.

But we're bigger by population than two states, bigger than all states but Oklahoma at the time they were admitted to the Union.

Over the years, there have been a lot of arguments against statehood. You're too small, they say.

I want to be clear. I am not here to talk about one person, but about 702,000 Americans who deserve full representation in this House.

I am honored to be here today to ask Congress to act upon the request of my residents to admit Washington, DC, to join the United States of America as the 51st state.