House Democrats pass bill to make Washington, D.C., the 51st state



The House of Representatives passed legislation Thursday that would make Washington, D.C., the 51st state in the U.S., with every member voting with their party in the Democrat-majority chamber.

Now, all eyes are on the Senate, where Democrats also hold control but do not appear to have the votes needed to pass the bill.

What are the details?

House Democrats voted unanimously — 216 to 208 — for the bill that was symbolically dubbed H.R. 51 to reflect its purpose in making the District of Columbia the 51st state.

The Constitution mandates that the seat of government be federally controlled, which would require a Constitutional Congress to change. But advocates say H.R. 51 circumvents that need by merely shrinking the federally controlled district to a two-mile area that includes the White House, the U.S. Capitol, some national monuments and other federal buildings.

If passed into law, the rest of Washington, D.C., would become the State of Washington, Douglass Commonwealth, after abolitionist Frederick Douglass.

Currently, residents of Washington, D.C., can vote in presidential elections and the District has a House Delegate, Eleanor Holmes Norton (D), but she cannot vote on legislation.

With statehood, D.C. would have two senators and one representative, further entrenching the Democratic Party's current power in the federal government given the overwhelming likelihood that the dDistrict remains deep-blue.

As The Hill noted, President Joe Biden "won the District's three electoral votes in last year's election with 92 percent of the vote."

Democrats argue that D.C. residents currently suffer from "taxation without representation," while Republicans are calling D.C. statehood a power-grab from the left.

This is the second time H.R. 51 has passed the House, and the first time was just last session when it was stopped in the Senate — which was then controlled by Republicans. Now, Democrats see more momentum behind it.

The Washington Post reported that "Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) pledged Tuesday that 'we will try to work a path to get [statehood] done,' and the White House asked Congress in a policy statement to pass the legislation as swiftly as possible."

Despite support from Democratic leaders, the bill faces an uphill climb in the 50-50 upper chamber, which currently requires 60 votes to pass most legislation.

Even if Democrats were able to scrap the filibuster as many on the far-left have pushed to do, moderate Democrats such as Sens. Joe Manchin (W.Va.) and Kyrsten Sinema (Ariz.) have thus far refrained from commenting on H.R. 1.

When asked by CNN about the legislation on Thursday, Manchin replied, "I got so many things on my plate that I haven't even gotten to that yet."

Sinema's office told The Post the senator "does not preview votes," when asked about her position on statehood.

Teacher's Shocking Admission: Teaching Kids to Dismantle the System | DIRECT MESSAGE | Rubin Report

Teacher's Shocking Admission: Teaching Kids to Dismantle the System | DIRECT MESSAGE | Rubin Report

Senate Democrats introduce bill to make DC a state and effectively expand their Senate majority



Senate Democrats on Wednesday reintroduced a bill to make Washington, D.C., a state, an effort supported by President Joe Biden.

The legislation reintroduced today was first drafted and proposed in 2013. It would give citizens of the District of Columbia full authority over local issues and grant them full representation in Congress, the Hill reported.

"This isn't a Republican or Democratic issue; it's an American issue because the lack of fair representation for D.C. residents is clearly inconsistent with the values on which this country was founded," Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.), the bill's sponsor, said.

Proponents for D.C. statehood argue that the city's population of 712,000 residents is larger than small states like Vermont or Wyoming and comparable to others including Deleware and Alaska. They note that D.C. residents pay the highest per-capita federal income taxes in the U.S., that the city receives between 25% and 30% of its budget from the federal government, and that the only representation the district has in Congress is the non-voting Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton. The issue at hand is D.C. residents in support of statehood believe they are being taxed without representation.

Opponents of D.C. statehood raise constitutional concerns before discussing the merits of whether D.C. should be a state. The Department of Justice has previously advised Congress that it lacks the power to grant D.C. statehood. Article I, Section 8 of the U.S. Constitution stipulates that Congress retains the power "to exercise exclusive legislation in all cases whatsoever, over such District (not exceeding ten Miles square) as may, by Cession of particular States, and the Acceptance of Congress, become the Seat of Government of the United States." The District of Columbia was founded after Maryland and Virginia ceded territory to the federal government that was accepted by Congress for the purpose of creating the nation's capital. The creation of a state government, critics say, would interfere with Congress' exclusive powers over the District.

The response to that argument from D.C. statehood advocates such as D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser is that the Constitution sets a maximum size for the District, "ten miles square," but does not prohibit Congress from shrinking that area. "Creating the new state will require a simple reduction in the size of the federal district to an unpopulated area which includes the US Capitol, the National Mall, museums, some federal office buildings, the White House, the Supreme Court, and major national monuments," a pro-statehood website set up by Mayor Bowser states.

Regardless of the constitutional questions, it is unlikely the bill will pass, even in a 50-50 Senate with Vice President Kamala Harris breaking tie votes. To overcome a filibuster, Democrats supporting the bill will need to win over at least 10 Republicans, who are not inclined to vote to admit two new likely Democratic senators representing D.C. into the chamber, strengthening the Democratic majority.