DC statehood approved by House as Senate fight looms

By ASHRAF KHALIL
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) – A decades-long movement to reshape the American political map took has taken a further step.

The House of Representatives on Thursday approved a bill to make the nation’s capital the 51st state. That’s the easy part, though. Now the proposal faces a far tougher fight in the Senate, where simple Democratic control of the chamber won’t be enough, and where full party-line unity among Democrats is no guarantee.

The legislation proposes creating a 51st state with one representative and two senators, while a tiny sliver of land including the White House, the U.S. Capitol and the National Mall would remain as a federal district.

The new state would be known as Washington, Douglass Commonwealth – named after abolitionist Frederick Douglass.