Dems Plan Vote On Making D.C. A State Week Of 19th

They should have tried packing the Supreme Court before doing this, because it is clearly un-Constitutional, but, then, when did Democrats ever care about that? If they really want people in D.C. to have clear representation, well, move the federal government somewhere else and suck D.C. back into Maryland. Or, all those people who reside in D.C. can move not far away to Maryland or Virginia. D.C. was never meant to have permanent residents

House to vote on DC statehood bill during week of April 19

The House will vote on making Washington, D.C., the 51st state during the week of April 19, the district’s non-voting representative in Congress announced Wednesday.

Eleanor Holmes Norton, the D.C. delegate, said the House Oversight Committee will vote on her statehood bill on April 14 and then send the legislation for a full House vote the following week.

“The week of April 19th the House will take a historic step in righting the monumental wrong of denying the 712,000 federal taxpaying American citizens who live in the nation’s capital voting representation in Congress and self-government without congressional interference into local affairs,” Norton said in a statement.

They chose to live there. That’s on them. The only really Constitutional way of doing this cute little carve up they think will solve the issue, basically leaving the area where most of the federal buildings are and turning the rest into a state would be to revert it to being a part of Maryland, which would mean there wouldn’t be two extra senators in the Dems back pocket. Just the same two from Maryland.

D.C. has a population of more than 700,000 residents — greater than Wyoming and Vermont — but the residents don’t have voting members in Congress or full control over local affairs. However, the District of Columbia pays more in federal taxes than 21 states and more per capita than any state, according to the 2019 IRS data book.

They aren’t supposed to have control over their affairs. The Constitution gives that to Congress. Any power local government has is given to them by Congress, and can taken back in heartbeat. Like was done with Alexandria. Which is no longer part of D.C., but, was given back to Virginia.

Under the plan, the 51st state would be called “Washington, Douglass Commonwealth,” named for Frederick Douglass.

D.C. would have full control over local affairs and full representation in Congress, which would amount to two senators and one representative in the House based on the current population.

The area around the White House, Capitol, Supreme Court and National Mall would be carved out into a federal district controlled by Congress and named the “Capital.” (snip)

However, the legislation needs 60 votes to advance and therefore will die again in the Senate without GOP support.

Unless Dems want to kill the filibuster (reconciliation is not on the table), it won’t move forward. Let’s say they do make it a majority vote: we knew this back in 1993

D.C. Statehood: Not Without a Constitutional Amendment

Statehood proposals for the District of Columbia have been around for years. Today, however, we have a President pledged to support D.C. statehood. Congress is controlled by the Democrats, whose platform supports statehood. Eleanor Holmes Norton, the so-called non-voting delegate to the House of Representatives from D.C., has introduced a statehood proposal in the current session of Congress.1 Jesse Jackson, the “Shadow Senator” from the District, was recently arrested while leading a group of pro-statehood protesters blocking an intersection near the Capitol.2 And readers of The Washington Post received an Independence Day issue of the Post’s Sunday magazine devoted to the statehood cause.3 In short, statehood matters may be coming to a head in the political arena.

Yeah, this was Bill Clinton’s first year in office

What most statehood proponents ignore, however, is a fundamental question that should precede their political campaign: even if it were a good idea, can Congress make D.C. a state without a constitutional amendment? As a partisan matter, support for statehood is almost exclusively Democratic, as would be New Columbia’s congressional delegation. As a constitutional matter, however, the Justice Department under both Democratic and Republican administrations has consistently agreed that statehood for the District requires a constitutional amendment; it cannot be done by mere majority vote in Congress. A review of the District’s history, the terms of the Constitution, and the practicalities of making D.C. a state, reveals that statehood legislation is ill-conceived at best.

A simple vote cannot Constitutionally create this new state out of D.C.

By the 1950s, support for some form of local and national representation for the District’s residents began to swell. President Eisenhower supported Home Rule—the grant of certain powers of local administration to officials elected from the District.11 In 1961, the states ratified the 23rd Amendment, giving District residents for the first time the right to vote for President and Vice President.12 The District was granted Home Rule in 1974, and Walter Washington, previously the Commissioner of the District, became its first modem elected mayor.13

And that amendment complicates the simple vote of no representation as the first Constitutional hurdle. If you read the entire piece, you will see that it would also violate Article 1, Section 8: Permanent Congressional Power, which gives Congress power over the district. But, the carve out! Wouldn’t that take care of this?

Article IV, Section 3: Maryland’s Permission

Statehood’s second constitutional problem is Article IV, Section 3, which provides that no new state may be created out of the territory of an existing state without that state’s permission.27 Under this clause, doesn’t Maryland need to give permission before a state can be created out of the District? It gave the territory that became the District to the federal government for use as the seat of government, not for making a new state.

This means that the grant of land would mean that the carve out could be given back to Maryland, letting those people be Maryland residents, not a new state.

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9 Responses to “Dems Plan Vote On Making D.C. A State Week Of 19th”

  1. Professor hale says:

    Return DC to Maryland except a small federal enclave thet includes the federal buildings and monuments centered on the mall, and only one resident, the president. But if course, it has nothing to do with representation and everything to do with gaining two permanent “unnacountable” democratic party senators.

  2. Dana says:

    The District originally included a section in Virginia, which was then returned to Virginia; that’s the template.

    It was a long time ago, when a President — Gerald Ford, perhaps? — proposed statehood for Puerto Rico, when I saw a political cartoon, with a 51 star flag. It had the fifty stars in the blue field, and a single star in the red stripe at the lower right hand corner of the blue field. That’s pretty much how I feel about the concept of making the District of Columbia a state.

    • Professor Hale says:

      As for Puerto Rico and the other island nations governed by the USA, we should set them free and end the oppression they have been suffering under. It’s the only way for them to ever have real social justice.

      • Dana says:

        None of them want independence from the United States!

        I could support the annexation of Canada, Mexico and the Caribbean nations, as long as they are not granted actual statehood. I would support statehood for all of the Canadian provinces except Quebec; no statehood for Quebec until it accepts English as its state language.

  3. Kye says:

    Bingo! Professor. Giv’em social justice and a dose of real “equity” nice and hard.

  4. Kye says:

    They’re gonna need more troops in DC. Better bring in the tanks and go full-out Red China on our asses. Do a Tiananmen Square at the Ellipse. That’ll teach those Freedom loving right wing crazies. Crooked elections count .

  5. Hairy says:

    Trumpets are such whiny bitches always playing their victim card
    Man Up!! Or ask your mommy forva hug and milk and cookies

    Boo hoo hop
    Iteas only one year ago that Trump predicted that in April the virus would didappear magically as it hot warmer
    He also told us 1_year ago that total deaths would be 60/65000
    Later he promised us that 100 million would be vaccinated by Dec 2020
    We only got 2 million jabbed

  6. Kye says:

    Bullshit. He “promised” nothing. He made some stupid statements but that’s all you commie assholes ever remember. I could go on a rant about him repeating what Fauci told him to say about the Commie flu, or how he sent hospital ships to NYC and LA and put up tent hospitals in NYC along with shipping them 30,000 ventilators they ended up not needing. but I won’t. I do know that the governor of NY literally murdered 15,000 elderly by his negligence. Nothing anyone says to a commie changes him one iota. No proof is good enough and no Truth can overcome the lies he’s taught to believe. As soon as an event occurs we conservative know exactly what you clowns will peddle before the facts are even in.. You’re still bitchin about Russia even after a two year investigation found nothing but refuse to visit voter fraud because it will hurt you politically. Liars and grifters just lying and grifting is all you animals are.

    Meanwhile, the knucklehead Junta in the WH watches as millions of migrants come here to take jobs, get welfare and change America’s racial demographic because White man bad. Not at the border they don’t even know how many kids have been sodomized, raped and murdered. Or how many have been carted off into slavery. But that’s okay with you commies because at least it’s not Trump’s policy. You’re all filthy immoral animals who murder children to win elections.

    Yeah, ok, maybe it’s not going quite as they planned. But, orange man bad, right? Right? I mean, come on, what about the nice tweets? Am I right? Yeah, you know I’m right.

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