Print article WASHINGTON - For the second time in history, the House passed legislation Thursday to make the District of Columbia the nation’s 51st state, bolstering momentum for a once-illusory goal that has become a pivotal tenet of the Democratic Party’s voting rights platform. Democrats approved Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton’s Washington, D.C. Admission Act 216-208 in a party-line vote, describing it as a bid to restore equal citizenship to the residents of the nation’s capital and rectify a historic injustice. The bill, symbolically titled H.R. 51, now heads to the Senate, where proponents hope to break new ground - including a first-ever hearing in that chamber.