Phil Mendelson

I hope this Committee will come together for substantive discussions on how to address our capital city's most pressing issues, especially crime.

The D.C. Council's continued attempts to push soft-on-crime legislation and policies are emboldening criminals.

D.C. Council Chairman Phil Mendelson went as far as saying there is not a crime crisis in Washington, DC, but the numbers speak for themselves.

Statehood is the only way to give to our citizens locally elected Representatives to enact purely local laws.

We do not have the most important privilege of United States citizenship. We do not have a vote in Congress.

We send our sons and daughters to war, we pay more in Federal taxes than 22 states, we pay more per capita than any state.

Full and fair representation of the over 700,000 citizens residing in the District of Columbia is only possible through achieving statehood.

We pay more in Federal taxes than 22 states. We pay more per capita than any state.

It is time to recognize that the citizens of the District are citizens of the United States, with all of the responsibilities of citizenship, but they don't have the full rights of U.S. citizenship.

Full and fair representation for the 703,000 citizens residing in the District of Columbia is only possible through achieving statehood.