By HANNAH FIELDS, RAYONNA BURTON-JERNIGAN and MADISON PEEK Capital News Service Washington Bureau

House Democrats passed legislation Thursday that would grant statehood to the District of Columbia. The 216-208 party-line vote sends the measure to the Senate, where it does not appear to have the necessary 60 votes to pass.

The Washington D.C. Admission Act, symbolically numbered H.R. 51, would create Washington, Douglas Commonwealth, with two senators and a representative in the House, totaling three electoral college votes. 

“Statehood for D.C. is about fairness, justice, and ensuring that all Americans have an equal stake in our republic,” the House Oversight and Reform Committee’s chairwoman, Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D-New York, said in her closing remarks. “This is not about politics. It’s a fundamental voting and civil rights issue.”

The bill was authored and introduced by the District’s Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton, who has been leading the movement for statehood for decades. The bill has 216 House co-sponsors; an identical piece of legislation passed in the House last year. 

Norton, who first introduced the bill 10 years ago with no co-sponsors, has argued continuously that District residents pay more in state and federal taxes than other states but have no voting representation in Congress. 

“Congress has both the moral obligation and the constitutional authority to pass H.R. 51,” Norton said. “This country was founded on the principles of no taxation without representation and consent of the governed, but D.C. residents are taxed without representation and cannot consent to the laws under which they, as American citizens, must live.”

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Mechanicsville, said statehood was a civil rights issue and a matter of equality of citizenship. 

“In no other democratic nation in the world, does the capital city of that nation not have a vote in their parliament,” Hoyer said. “Now our ‘parliament’ is called the Congress.”

Republicans called the bill unconstitutional. They also were upset over the implications of an overwhelmingly Democratic city adding two Democratic senators to a closely-divided Senate.

Rep. James Comer, R-Kentucky, said the bill attempted to ignore the Founding Fathers’ intent for the capital, adding that statehood would be an unconstitutional, impractical and blatant power grab.

“America’s government will become of the Democrats, by the Democrats, and for the Democrats,” Comer said. “H.R. 51 is all about the Democrats adding two new progressive U.S. senators to push a radical agenda… to reshape America into the socialist utopia they alway talk about.”

Rep. Pat Fallon, R-Texas, offered “retrocession” as an alternative, giving District residents full federal representation. Putting the District “back into Maryland would give them that added seat and would address that very issue.”

“The GOP is acting in good faith because we know that seat will be a Democratic seat, but it’s the right thing to do,” Fallon said.

Rep. Mondaire Jones, D-New York, rebutted Republicans’ arguments, saying: “There is no good faith argument for disenfranchising over 700,000 people, most of whom are people of color.”

The White House voiced its support for District statehood on Tuesday, issuing a policy statement saying that it “will make our Union stronger and more just” and calling on Congress to give the residents of the nation’s capital “long overdue full representation in Congress.”

In the Senate, Democrats and Republicans are divided 50-50, with Vice President Kamala Harris holding a tie-breaking vote. The problem for District statehood, as it is for many other matters before the Senate, is that it would require 60 votes to end an expected filibuster by GOP opponents. 

No Republican senator so far has embraced District statehood. And some Senate Democrats have not said how they would vote on the idea.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-New York, is expected to press for a vote on District statehood. After the House vote, he tweeted: “This is about democracy. It’s about self-government. It’s about voting rights. I was proud to re-introduce this bill in the Senate, and we are working to make #DCStatehood a reality.”

Sen. Tom Carper, D-Delaware, and the chief statehood sponsor in the Senate, has asked former Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman to help lobby undecided senators to vote for the House-passed bill, Forbes reported.

But Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-South Carolina, told the magazine there was “zero chance” he could be persuaded by his close friend Lieberman to end his vehement opposition to statehood.

The League of Women Voters urged the Senate to pass the bill.

“D.C. statehood is not a partisan issue but a civil rights issue which cannot be separated from the fight for racial justice,” League CEO Virginia Kase said in a statement. “As D.C. is a jurisdiction with a majority population of Black and Brown people, continued efforts to block full representation is discrimination against the people who live, work, and pay taxes in the District.”

“For decades, Congress has refused to vote on statehood, based on racist accusations that D.C. cannot govern itself,” she said. “ It is long past time that we dispel these racist and discriminatory excuses and deliver justice to the residents of our nation’s capital.”  

By MADISON HUNT 
Capital News Service Annapolis Bureau

Independent music venues continue to struggle financially to survive while in the midst of Maryland’s lifted pandemic restrictions and vaccine accessibility. 

Tecla Tesnau, owner of Baltimore’s indie-rock club Ottobar, said she remembers when she thought the pandemic was only going to last two weeks. 

“It was all of a sudden, we just ran into this crazy brick wall of COVID,”  Tesnau said. “We effectively went from a very successful business to zero business.”  

The home of rock lovers became a ghost town, and the once 30-member staff slowly went down to eight people as the pandemic continued, Tesnau said. 

According to the National Independent Venue Association — an organization with more than 3,000 independent live entertainment venues and promoters from across the country — independent music venues were the first to close during the pandemic and they will be the last to fully reopen. 

Ottobar lost 95% of their annual revenue, which is generated from ticket sales and concessions after they were forced to shut down because of the pandemic, Tesnau said.  

“It’s just absolutely devastating to realize that something you’ve worked so hard for, you’re just unable to continue to do,” Tesnau said.  

Fortunately, Ottobar was granted an award from Maryland and started a GoFundMe page in 2020 that a year later has generated almost $150,000, according to Tesnau. (https://www.gofundme.com/f/save-the-ottobar)

“The city really saved Ottobar,” Tesnau said. “Because the bills don’t stop coming just because you stop business.” 

On Jan. 15, Gov. Larry Hogan, R, announced his plans to distribute $30 million in awards to Maryland’s entertainment industry impacted by the pandemic, according to the governor’s website. 

The awards were given to 49 for-profit or nonprofit live entertainment and music venues, 27 independently owned movie theaters and 16 live entertainment promoters, the website said. 

However, even with the state’s financial assistance most music venues were still depending on federal funding to get through the pandemic, venue owners said. 

Audrey Fix Schaefer, head of communications for I.M.P —  an independent concert and promotion company — said federal funding will be the only thing that will help independent venues from closing. 

The Anthem, The Lincoln Theatre, Merriweather Post Pavilion and the 9:30 Club all fall under I.M.P’s production company.  

The National Independent Venue Association worked up to a year trying to get Congress to pass the Save Our Stages Act, which would provide $15 billion in pandemic relief to independent venues across the country. 

Schaefer, who is also a board member for the National Independent Venue Association, said they worked relentlessly to get the bill passed. 

“We fought for eight to then months to get some type of financial assistance, because there was none,” Schaefer said. “No matter how iconic of a venue you are, there’s just no way anybody could have prepared for this.” 

The bill got bipartisan support and was signed into law on Dec. 27, 2020, Schafer said. 

Unfortunately, local independent music venues still have yet to receive any grant money from this bill because of technical issues with the website, venue owners said. 

The portal was finally opened April 8, but the website crashed and has not been back up since, according to Schaefer. 

“It’s been an emotional rollercoaster for so many that have barely hung on,” Schaefer said. “And it is through no fault of their own, they’ve done all the right things.”

As well, this financial blow to many local music venues impacts surrounding businesses, music venue experts said.

According to a Chicago Loop Alliance study, for every dollar spent at an independent music venue, an additional $12 goes into surrounding businesses.

With the rollout of more vaccines and lifted restrictions, music venue owners said they are hopeful that they can return to normal operations over the summer. 

I.M.P. is encouraging everyone who gets their newsletter to preregister for the vaccine, and they even used Merriweather Post Pavilion as a COVID testing site during the pandemic, Schaefer said. 

“It’s something we’re trying to  partner for the health of the community, how lucky we are that there are vaccines available now,” she said. 

Tesnau also said she is excited about the vaccination rollout, and hopes that this means life can get back to “normal.”

“We can’t keep continuing to hold the pause button, we absolutely have to try to make plans to get back to what our lives used to look like,” Tesnau said.   

By JALEN WADE, JOY SAHA, JENNIFER MANDATO and CLARA LONGO DE FREITASCapital News Service Washington Bureau
After a jury on Tuesday found former Minneapolis Police Officer Derek Chauvin guilty of murdering George Floyd, President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and Democratic congressional leaders saw the verdict as a call to enact news laws against nationwide police brutality. 

“Because of smartphones, so many Americans have now seen the racial injustice that black Americans have known for generations,” Harris said in a nationally televised address from the White House’s Cross Hall.

“Here’s the truth about racial injustice: it’s not just a Black America problem or a people of color problem,” Harris said before Biden spoke. “It is a problem of every American, it is keeping us from the promise of liberty and justice for all.”

Biden repeated Floyd’s last words, “I can’t breathe.”

“We can’t let those words die with him,” the president said. “We have to keep hearing those words. We must not turn away. We can’t turn away.””This can be a moment of significant change,” Biden said.

Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement that “while the state’s prosecution was successful, I know that nothing can fill the void that the loved ones of George Floyd have felt since his death.”

He said the Justice Department’s civil rights probe into Floyd’s death “is ongoing,”

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-California, said in a press conference from the Capitol that the verdict was a “step in the right direction.”  Pelosi thanked the jury for validating what she and the world saw on tape.

“George Floyd should be alive today,” she said on Twitter. “His family’s calls for justice for his murder were heard around the world. He did not die in vain. We must make sure other families don’t suffer the same racism, violence & pain, and we must enact the George Floyd #JusticeInPolicing Act.”

That legislation passed the House in March and now awaits action in the closely-divided Senate. 

“This bill would hold law enforcement account and build trust between law enforce and our communities” Harris said. 

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Mechanicsville, urged the Senate to pass the reform bill.

“But we can only do so much by legislation alone,” he said. “Our nation must reckon with racial bias and with the reality that, even 158 years after President Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, America is still not free from the legacy of slavery, segregation, and institutionalized racism. Justice, equality, and opportunity are still being denied to Black Americans, and we must all confront this painful truth.”

Majority Leader Chuck Schumer D-New York, said that the trial served to affirm what many people were already aware of, that Floyd had been murdered in cold blood. But Schumer said that the verdict alone did not end the rampant problem with police conduct in the country.  

The divide between law enforcement and the communities they are supposed to protect have not yet been bridged, Schumer said. 

“We must remain diligent in our efforts to bring meaningful change to police departments across the country,” Schumer said. “The Senate will continue that work as we strive to ensure George Floyd’s tragic death will not be in vain.”

Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Maryland, also urged action on the police reform bill named after Chauvin’s victim.

“While today’s verdict was just, we must think of the Black Americans who have never received justice,” Van Hollen said in a statement. “We must move with urgency to confront and defeat systemic racism in all its forms, and Congress must act immediately to pass the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act.” 

Sen. Ben Cardin, D-Maryland, said that the reform measure includes additional provisions that prohibit the “use of racial and religious profiling by police” and changes how law enforcement interacts with marginalized communities. 

“As a nation, we simply must do more to ensure that the basic human rights of Americans are protected at all times, even if they are suspected of a crime,” Cardin said. “We also must fundamentally reform our thinking and systems so that individuals are not assumed suspects because of the color of their skin or the clothes they wear. It’s morally wrong and a waste of legitimate police resources.“

Maryland Attorney General Brian E. Frosh also called for further action both nationally and locally.

“Justice has been done,” Frosh said. “But this cannot be the end. Systemic problems with policing and with equal justice require reform.”   

Sen. Cory Booker, D-New Jersey, tweeted that “this verdict is justice served – but it is not justice for George Floyd.”

“True justice would be a country where George Floyd would still be alive today,” the senator said. “True justice demands action – it demands change & that we do everything we can to stop this from happening again & again & again.”  

Floyd was killed on May 25, 2020, during an arrest made by four Minneapolis police officers, including Chauvin, who knelt on Floyd’s neck and back for 9 minutes and 29 seconds, resulting in his death.

Chauvin’s trial began March 29. The jury found him guilty on two counts of murder and one count of manslaughter.   

Following the verdict, Biden and Harris called the Floyd family. Biden comforted the family, saying the trial would be the start of change. 

Advocacy groups, while noting that the verdict was a sign of justice, still continue to fight for other issues. The NAACP website acknowledged that “the jury has spoken, but our lives are still on the line.” A link to a petition for police reform followed the statement. 

“We will never begin to achieve true justice for George Floyd until our country completely transforms public safety to save Black lives and reduce racist police violence,” the American Civil Liberties Union said on Twitter.