King: The key question as the House considers D.C. statehood: Do we believe in the ‘consent of the governed’ or not?

The nation’s capital will shrink dramatically if H.R. 51 — otherwise known as the Washington D.C. Admission Act, and the subject of a congressional hearing Monday — is enacted and fully implemented. The nation’s capital will be reduced to a two-square-mile zone encompassing federal buildings, monuments and properties near the Mall and the Capitol, including the White House, Supreme Court and other executive and judicial office buildings. Pretty much all of the territory bordered by Maryland and Virginia will become a state with the name “Washington, Douglass Commonwealth.”