The city's fiscal supports from the federal government has (more often than not) been erratic, unpredictable and declining over time. Rarely have these fiscal arrangements involved much feedback from city leaders about the city's actual needs. Today, the city's own fiscal standing—independent of the federal government—has never been stronger. The city has proven that it has the discipline and wherewithal to manage its finances under statehood.
This report provides a summary and analysis of the circumstances that led the citizens who lived in the area designated as the seat of government to lose their right to vote in 1801, why Congress has only partially addressed this state of affairs in the intervening 220 years, and how the modern struggle for self-determination among Washington, D.C., residents has evolved into the present push for statehood.
