Statehood swap? Conflict emerges among statehood advocates over proposed pilot 

This article was posted as an April Fool’s joke.

Washington, DC could finally get a taste of statehood next month, as activists promote a pilot program that would allow residents to exchange DC-specific perqs with other states for short-term congressional representation.

Informally dubbed the “Statehood swap”, the pilot would establish a market-based platform in which states can exchange access to their voting members of congress for a given duration in exchange for “congressional credits”. DC can then purchase those credits in exchange for a type of influence no other jurisdiction can claim but apparently have long coveted: access to US Capitol-adjacent yard signs and parking spots.

In March, a suggestion made by Zack Smith of the Heritage Foundation that DC residents enjoyed comparable influence over the legislative process such as yard signs viewable by elected officials of other states provoked outrage. The Heritage Foundation doubled down last week, tweeting: “Even those who support #DCstatehood recognize and candidly admit the outsized influence their members in Congress would play given the newly created state’s location.”

“At first we were pretty put-off,” said Art Icklewan, chair of 51 Stars, an advocacy group. “On the face of it, it sounds ludicrous to suggest that yard signs can influence the legislative process comparably to democratically-elected representatives. But then we got to thinking, what if we created a platform to let the market do its job?”

The team soon realized that other arguments against DC statehood highlighted further assets that could be exchanged in the same way. “They’re always so keen on parking,” said Icklewan. “So representatives can get more of something we know they love for access to their influence in Congress, something we would love. It’s win-win.”

Advocates are divided. “You can’t sample statehood - it’s all or nothing,” said Josh Perch, founder of Neighbors for DC Statehood. Others aren’t so sure the scheme gets DC any closer to its democratic goals. “I see where they’re coming from, but it’s not really the same thing [as electing members of Congress],” said Jeremy Lowers of Democracy 4 DC.

Supporters aren’t daunted, touting interest from states whose representatives don’t always turn up for votes, such as Louisiana, whose Representative Ralph Abraham showed up to the lowest proportion of votes of any representative of the contiguous United States. (We probably can’t put too much blame on the representatives of American Samoa, Guam or Hawaii).

Florida, where Mr. Smith earned his degrees, has already shown interest. Florida House, a “state embassy” that sits a block from the Capitol grounds, struggles with limited parking and wants to extend its influence on a pivotal vote on citrus subsidies later this year. A Florida House spokesperson expressed enthusiasm for trading a week’s worth of representation for a six-block network of yard signs plus one block of parking adjacent to Florida House: “We’re confident the signs could play a big role. And just think of how little walking our guests would have to do that week when they pay us a visit. Just like home!”

Asked about the proposed pilot, local resident Epluriba Unum had mixed feelings. “Luckily I have a yard, so I just have to put up some random sign for a week and then I can ask my Congressmember-for-a-week to hear my cause and vote accordingly. I never could do that before. But my niece lives in an apartment; she’ll be left out in the cold.” Unum paused, looking out wistfully toward the Capitol. “It doesn’t seem right that she and I would get different rights depending on where we live. Can’t we drop this business about what the Founding Fathers wanted hundreds of years ago, and get on with building our democracy?”