For the first time the House passed a bill that would make Washington, D.C. the 51st state. If the bill gets past the Senate, here's how H.R. 51, The D.C. Statehood Act would work. House Democrats are moving forward with their plan to add the District of Columbia as the 51st state of the union and this time they have supportive leaders in the Senate and the White House on their side. D.C. Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton, who has been leading the statehood charge in Congress, predicted earlier this year "there's never been a time when statehood for the District was more likely." The first step will take place Monday, when the House Committee on Oversight and Reform will hold a hearing on Norton's 51st state legislation, aptly titled H.R. 51, the Washington, D.C. Admission Act. D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser, who has pushed to have a statehood bill on President Biden's desk within his first 100 days in office, will be among the witnesses testifying. Biden is supportive of D.C. becoming the 51st state. DEM SENATOR INTRODUCES DC STATEHOOD BILL -- BUT EFFORT FACES UPHILL BATTLE Bowser has framed statehood as a civil rights issue where taxpaying U.S. citizens have been disenfranchised for the last 200 years and denied democracy. Muriel Bowser, mayor of Washington, D.C., speaks during a news conference ahead of a District of Columbia statehood bill vote on Capitol Hill on Thursday, June 25, 2020. (Stefani Reynolds/Bloomberg via Getty Images) With Democrats in control of the House, the Senate and the White House, Bowser said in January that the momentum toward statehood is "a promising sign that our country is finally ready to right this historic wrong." D.C. statehood already passed the House last June but it died in the GOP-led Senate. House leadership is committed to bringing up statehood for a vote again this year and 214 Democrats have co-sponsored the legislation — or just about all of the Democratic caucus which sits at 220 members currently. With the Senate now in Democratic hands, Sen. Tom Carper, D-Del., is leading the effort there for statehood. So far, his statehood legislation has 40 of the 50 Democratic senators signed on as co-sponsors. However, without changing the legislative filibuster, Carper would need the support of at least 10 Republicans to meet the 60-vote threshold to advance — an uphill climb in a divided Senate.