Alert: House Dems Move To Change US Capital, Create New State with 2 New Dem Senators
The House of Representatives on Friday approved legislation to make Washington, D.C., the 51st state in the United States by a margin of 232-180.
The vote was the first time either house of Congress has voted to give the district statehood, The New York Times reported.
The Republican-controlled Senate has no plans to proceed with the proposal, but Democrats are praising the historic vote as a way to give the people of the District of Columbia a voice in Congress.
“This deprivation of statehood is unjust, unequal, undemocratic and unacceptable,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said at a news conference.
“We think it’s very long overdue … all good Americans should have a vote in the House and in the Senate,” Speaker Nancy Pelosi on DC statehood which the House is set to vote on today. https://t.co/0W4F5ds9WF pic.twitter.com/JnLONQBwNe
— This Week (@ThisWeekABC) June 26, 2020
Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser said at a Thursday media conference that residents were born in the district without a vote but that they “will not die here without a vote,” according to The Hill.
D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser: “I was born without representation, but I swear – I will not die without representation. Together, we will achieve DC statehood, and when we do, we will look back on this day and remember all who stood with us on the right side of history.”
— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) June 26, 2020
But Republican lawmakers, and anyone with a functioning brain, are seeing the move for exactly what it is: an attempt to pack the House and Senate with more Democratic votes.
The House is voting tomorrow on a bill to make Washington, D.C. a state.
Why? The answer is simple: power. The Democrats want to make Washington a state because they want two new Democratic senators in perpetuity. https://t.co/n7WTdanmDk
— Tom Cotton (@SenTomCotton) June 25, 2020
President Donald Trump commented on calls for D.C. statehood last month, declaring that the District “will never be a state.”
“You mean District of Columbia, a state? Why? So we can have two more Democratic — Democrat senators and five more congressmen? No thank you. That’ll never happen,” Trump told the New York Post.
Former Vice President Joe Biden, or someone running his Twitter account, tweeted in support of statehood for D.C on Thursday.
DC should be a state. Pass it on. https://t.co/xUJ1sud76f
— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) June 25, 2020
The proposal would give the district statehood, and would name it “Washington, Douglass Commonwealth.”
The country’s 51st state would combine the names of President George Washington, a native of Virginia, and Maryland-born abolitionist Frederick Douglass.
The state of Washington, Douglass Commonwealth, would include all of the nation’s capital, minus the White House, the Capitol Building, the United States Supreme Court Building and any federal buildings near the National Mall and the Capitol.
The plan will die in the Senate.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell warned of such an attempt by Democrats in the House last year to pack Congress with more Democrats while appearing on Fox News.
“They plan to make the District of Columbia a state — that’d give them two new Democratic senators — Puerto Rico a state, that would give them two more new Democratic senators,” he said.
“So this is full-bore socialism on the march in the House. And yeah, as long as I’m the majority leader of the Senate, none of that stuff is going anywhere,” McConnell added.
For the first time in my memory, I actually agree with Nancy Pelosi: I am the grim reaper when it comes to stopping the Democrats’ socialist agenda. pic.twitter.com/mjQaJUPirb
— Leader McConnell (@senatemajldr) June 14, 2019
The Kentucky Republican hasn’t changed his tune.
McConnell will not take up the issue on the Senate floor, where Republicans already have a slim majority, The Washington Post reported.
The move by the Democrat-led House is just another example of how crucial the November election is.
Democrats are salivating about the opportunity to load the House and Senate with more representatives, which would essentially put the GOP on death’s door.
Washington, D.C. has 700,000+ residents—more than some states—but they are denied full representation in Congress.
It’s time to grant D.C. statehood.
— Kamala Harris (@KamalaHarris) June 26, 2020
DC statehood will die in McConnell’s Senate after first-ever House passage. But a Democratic trifecta next year could mean real democracy for the HQ of our democracy: https://t.co/bPDrXhTipZ
— David Hawkings (@davidhawkings) June 26, 2020
An obvious solution to the complaints about those residing in the nation’s capital not being represented in Congress would be to grant them citizenship to either Maryland or Virginia.
But this isn’t about taxation without representation, or voting rights.
It’s about loading congress with more Democrats, which is yet another reason why the country must avert a disaster by re-electing Trump, retaining the Senate and taking back the House on Nov. 3.
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