A quartet of senators introduced a bill Thursday to grant the District full statehood, a measure that has faint prospects of passage in the near term but will at least ensure the issue remains alive on both sides of the Capitol.

The measure was offered by Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.) — the incoming chairman of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, which has jurisdiction over D.C. — as well as Sens. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), Richard Durbin (D-Ill.) and Patty Murray (D-Wash.).

District citizens, Carper said, “serve in our military, fight in our wars, die for our country, and pay federal taxes. But when it comes to having a voice in Congress, suddenly these men and women do not count. … It is incumbent upon those of us who enjoy the right and the privilege of full voting rights to take up the cause of our fellow citizens here in the District of Columbia and find a solution.”

Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.) offered the same bill, which would create New Columbia as the 51st state, in the House last week. She has also introduced two different measures to grant the District voting rights in Congress.

John Settles, a Logan Circle mortgage broker, will kick off his campaign for the D.C. Council on Wednesday with an event hosted by friends, including several who have past ties to former mayors Adrian M. Fenty or Anthony Williams.

Settles, 42, who heads a Wells Fargo mortgage branch, will launch his campaign with a meet-and-greet at Ben’s Chili Bowl. Prior to the event, Settles will appear on the “DC Politics Hour” radio show on WPFW (89.3 FM), his aides say.

According to an e-vite, the Ben’s Chili Bowl event is being co-hosted by Nizam Ali, owner of the restaurant.

Carrie Brooks, Fenty’s former chief of staff, is also listed as a co-host, as is Ben Soto, who was Fenty’s longtime campaign treasurer.

Soto confirmed his participation in the event. Carrie Brooks, who now goes by her married name of Carrie Kohns, was not available to comment.

Joy Arnold Russel, who worked as Williams’s deputy chief of staff, is also on the invite.

Eight D.C. Council candidates met Wednesday’s deadline to attempt to qualify for the citywide at-large race in April, including former council member Michael A. Brown and interim member Anita Bonds.

Though 20 candidates had initially expressed interest in competing in the special election, they had until 5 p.m. Wednesday to submit 3,000 signatures from registered voters to the D.C. Board of Elections.

Last week, Republican Patrick Mara and Democrat Paul Zukerberg became the first candidates to submit their petitions.

Bonds, Brown and fellow Democrats Matthew Frumin, Elissa Silverman and John Settles submitted their petitions this week. Perry Redd, a Statehood Green Party candidate, also filed his petitions.

House Oversight and Government Reform Chairman Darrell Issa reiterated Wednesday his concerns over the District’s plan to put a budget autonomy referendum on the April ballot, but made clear it would not derail his own effort to move the issue on Capitol Hill.

Rep. Darrell Issa still hopes to move his own D.C. budget autonomy bill. (Susan Walsh/Associated Press)Issa (R-Calif.) had previously raised questions about the wisdom of the ballot referendum, which would amend the city charter to give the District government more freedom to spend local taxpayer money without awaiting congressional approval. Issa has echoed some local critics — including D.C. attorney general Irvin B. Nathan — who believe the strategy doesn’t pass legal muster.

D.C. Council member David A. Catania proposed legislation Tuesday that would change standards for when parents can be held criminally liable if their children miss too many school days.

Under the proposal, the Office of the Attorney General would be required to prosecute parents if their child has 20 or more unexcused absences in a year. Four of 13 council members have co-sponsored the plan.

The parent would receive written warnings from both the attorney general and Child and Family Services when their child reaches 10 unexcused absences.

If charges were brought, the parent would be sentenced to parenting classes or community service at their child’s school. Parents would not be subject to jail time unless they failed to complete their classes or service time.