The House of Representatives passed legislation today which would give statehood to Washington, D.C., making it the 51st state in the U.S. This from dailycaller.com.
H.R. 51 passed the House 216-208. The bill would designate “Washington, Douglass Commonwealth” as the 51st state while still having a separate federal district.
Republicans argued that the move is unconstitutional and that democrats want D.C. statehood in order to add two democrat senators in Congress as well as one democrat representative in the House.
“The Democrats’ D.C. statehood scheme is about two things: consolidating power and enacting radical policies.”
“The American people see right through this blatant power grab” House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy said before the vote.
The likelihood of D.C. becoming a state would mean senate democrats would need at least 10 Republicans to jump on board, however, if they abolished the filibuster it could be done without Republican support.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer has continued to support the idea of D.C. statehood and said he would love to see both D.C. and Puerto Rico become states in a September interview with MSNBC, saying, “Believe me, on D.C. and Puerto Rico — particularly if Puerto Rico votes for it, D.C. already has voted for it and wants it — [we] would love to make them states.”
Democrats still need to get a few of their own to vote with them in the Senate, such as West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin and Arizona Sen. Kyrsten Sinema.
In September, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, who was then the majority leader, warned Republicans before the November 2020 elections that if the GOP loses control of all three branches of government that democrats will try to end the filibuster and add D.C. and Puerto Rico as states.
“After they change the filibuster, they’re going to admit the District as a state. They’re going to admit Puerto Rico as a state. That’s four new Democratic senators in perpetuity,” McConnell said in a speech.
