Strauss testified to the U.S. Senate Committee on Homeland Security & Governmental Affairs in 2014 regarding the New Columbia Admission Act of 2013. His testimony argued the historical case for D.C. statehood, saying "We are all Americans. We all deserve to participate in the democracy our nation’s founders set before us. To deny basic rights to the citizens of the National Capital, makes a mockery of our attempts to act as a model of democracy for the rest of the world."