The Church of the Brethren General Board, meeting March 5-8, 1988, in Elgin, Illinois, declares its support of statehood for the District of Columbia. This represents a reaffirmation of the General Board's position of 1979, when it supported a Constitutional Amendment to achieve statehood for the District. The amendment failed to achieve the necessary number of ratifications by state legislatures within the specified time.

The General Board finds persuasive certain basic facts pointing toward statehood for the District:

• Of 115 countries with national legislatures, only the United States and Brazil deny full representation to the citizens of their federal districts.

• With a population of 700,000, the District of Columbia has a greater voting-age population than six states. Those states each have two senators and one or two representatives.

• On a per-capita basis, District of Columbia residents pay more federal taxes than the residents of 48 states, yet have no representation in determining how those taxes will be spent.

We urge members of Congress and the President to enact statehood legislation and thus correct a very serious injustice that has been and is borne by the citizens of the District of Columbia. We urge members of our church to advocate this action.

Adopted by the General Board, March 5-8, 1988