As someone who works in the District of Columbia, and as a member of the Government Reform Committee, I have a close relationship to the District and a special obligation to the people of the District. I've been there whenever the District has needed help in Congress. I ran in the DC primary and stand in unwavering support of DC statehood.

The majority of Americans may not be aware that the citizens of Washington DC are currently disenfranchised and largely ignored, because they lack statehood. There are nearly 600,000 taxpaying citizens in the District of Columbia who have no federal voting representation in Congress. Despite the fact that DC residents have fought and died in every war since the War for Independence, and including the recent "Operation Iraqi Freedom," they do not return home to a democratic society with the same rights and privileges as all other Americans who served their country.

We need to fully restore DC to financial health. We must provide for increased infrastructure, jobs, education, and health care spending. I have a broad-based plan to promote this. DC residents pay enough annually in federal taxes to support a state. In fact, they pay more federal taxes than several states and have a per capita tax payment that is above the national average. Because it belongs to the federal government, approximately 50% of DC's real estate is exempt from taxation. Over half of all sales in DC are to the federal government or other tax-exempt organizations, and this produces no revenue to the DC government.

It is time DC residents had statehood and the same rights as all Americans. This can be achieved specifically through the following steps:

Create local authority within the District over our three branches of government: legislative, executive, and judicial.

Eliminate all federal government committees and/or subcommittees that have oversight or appropriation power over the DC government.

Provide complete and equal voting representation in the United States Congress.

Achieve equality through statehood.

As Sam Smith wrote in his article, The Case for DC Statehood, "Our right is entire membership in the United State of America as the 51st state. Let us seek nothing less."