Patriotic Millionaires and Staff Challenge Congress to “Keep In Mind the 700,000 D.C. Residents Who Do Not Get to Decide” on Statehood
“The people of D.C. are just as much citizens of the United States as residents of the 50 states, and yet they have no political representation.”
Washington, DC – Today, the House of Representatives will hold a hearing on H.R. 51, a bill to formally make the District of Columbia the 51st state in the Union. The bill currently has 200 co-sponsors in the House, and this hearing will mark the first on D.C. statehood in 25 years. In response, Morris Pearl, former managing director at Blackrock, Inc., and Chair of the Patriotic Millionaires, issued the following statement:
“One of the founding principles of the Patriotic Millionaires is that every citizen of this country should have the same political power enjoyed by the wealthy. The most basic form of political power is also the most basic right of any democracy – the right to vote. It is both inexcusable and morally repugnant that over 600,000 citizens are denied that right simply for being residents of the District of Columbia.
Today’s hearing in the House on H.R. 51, a bill to admit D.C. into the Union as the 51st state, is a key step in stopping this disenfranchisement. The people of D.C. are just as much citizens of the United States as residents of the 50 states, and yet they have no political representation in Congress, even though Washington, D.C. has more residents than two states. D.C. statehood is essential to ensuring our democracy is free, fair, and open to everyone in this country.”
In addition, the staff of the Patriotic Millionaires issued the following statement:
“More than half of our staffers live and work within the District of Columbia. We come into work each and every day to advance a message of political equality alongside our members, and it is deeply frustrating, disheartening, and unjust that so many of us – at our organization as well as countless others – do not enjoy that equality because of our zip code. Each of us works for the Patriotic Millionaires because we care deeply about the state of inequality in our country and we want to be a force for legislative good. It is a dumbfounding absurdity that we do not have a political voice in the very system it is our job to work alongside.
In our capacity as staffers of an organization that believes in the absolute right of every citizen to have a say in their democracy, and in our capacity as residents currently being stripped of that absolute right, we urge Congress to take H.R. 51 seriously, and keep in mind the 700,000 D.C. residents who do not get to decide our own future.”
For further comments or questions, please contact Fiona McCarthy at fiona@patrioticmillionaires.org.
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About the Patriotic Millionaires
Proud “traitors to their class,” members of the Patriotic Millionaires are high-net worth Americans, business leaders, and investors who are united in their concern about the destabilizing concentration of wealth and power in America. The mission of The Patriotic Millionaires organization is to build a more stable, prosperous, and inclusive nation by promoting public policies based on the “first principles” of equal political representation, a guaranteed living wage for all working citizens, and a fair tax system. You can find out more at https://patrioticmillionaires.org/about/
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