DC statehood hearing delayed for Mueller testimony

WASHINGTON (FOX 5 DC) - Congress is postponing a hearing on DC statehood to accommodate former special counsel Robert Mueller's upcoming testimony on the Hill.

District of Columbia Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes-Norton says the hearing on DC statehood will now likely be scheduled in September to make way for Mueller's testimony on the 2016 presidential election.

Both hearings were scheduled for July 24. Holmes-Norton says in a statement that the delay will allow advocates to publicize the DC statehood effort nationally.

"This hearing will inform people of what most do not know – that the residents of their nation's capital do not have full voting rights in the House and have no representation in the Senate," Holmes-Norton said in the statement. "We will use this postponement to nationalize our efforts, giving national attention to the disenfranchisement of D.C. residents and to continue to build support for the bill in the House, Senate and across the country."

The hearing in the fall would be the first House hearing on DC statehood since Holmes-Norton got the first-ever floor vote in 1993.

Her bill has more than 200 cosponsors.