jimnyc
06-16-2020, 01:46 PM
Why hasn't this passed before? What's the pros and cons of doing this? Citizens? Government? And based on that, what chance may this have in the senate? The article beneath today's article, is a brief explanation from USA Today from last year. Not sure if that's the entirety of the reason or not.
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House Democrats schedule June 26 vote on DC statehood
(CNN)The House of Representatives will vote on a District of Columbia statehood bill on June 26, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer announced Tuesday.
If passed, it would be the first time either chamber of Congress has approved a DC statehood bill. More than 220 members, all Democrats, have cosponsored the measure -- exceeding the threshold for passage in the House.
Under the bill -- introduced by Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton, DC's nonvoting member of the House -- all land in DC, except for existing federal buildings and monuments in the city, would be admitted as a state. The legislation would rename Washington, DC, as the Washington, Douglass Commonwealth, after Frederick Douglass. It would provide DC with two US senators and at least one House member.
The bill is unlikely to advance in the Republican-held Senate, where Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has said such efforts won't go anywhere as long as he controls the chamber.
Officials argued the need for statehood has become more stark in recent weeks given the federal government's mobilization of law enforcement in the city to counter racial justice protests -- including the forcible clearing of peaceful protesters outside the White House to allow President Donald Trump's photo op at a local church earlier this month.
"We know that statehood is the only way to ensure that we have full representation, that we have votes here in the United States of America capital, but also to make sure that we're fully autonomous. And that is our birthright," DC Mayor Muriel Bowser said Tuesday.
Rest - https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/16/politics/dc-statehood-vote-set/index.html
Will DC become the 51st state? Advocates argue case in Congress with boost from Democrats
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Why isn't DC already a state?
The Constitution is vague on the subject of Washington. Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution allows Congress to create a "District (not exceeding ten miles square)" to become the seat of government.
Initially, Congress was given complete control over the district's legislation out of fears that a single state could wield too much power over the federal government. Later acts of Congress granted greater self-rule to the district, and the 23rd Amendment gave it three electoral votes.
James Madison wrote in the Federalist No. 43 that the federal government needed to have supreme authority at the seat of government and warned of the accumulation of too much power in a single state:
A dependence of the members of the general government on the State comprehending the seat of the government, for protection in the exercise of their duty, might bring on the national councils an imputation of awe or influence, equally dishonorable to the government and dissatisfactory to the other members of the Confederacy.
Pilon argued that "it would take a constitutional amendment" to make D.C. a state because of the 23rd Amendment.
"I don't see this bill going anywhere," he told the committee.
Rep. Ralph Norman, R-S.C., said statehood for the district would be "constitutional malfeasance.”
The possibility of the statehood bill passing into law seems slim.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., told Fox News in June that D.C. statehood would give Democrats an advantage in the Senate and allow them to expand the Supreme Court.
Rest - https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2019/09/19/dc-statehood-congress-considering-washington-51st-state/2361708001/
--
House Democrats schedule June 26 vote on DC statehood
(CNN)The House of Representatives will vote on a District of Columbia statehood bill on June 26, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer announced Tuesday.
If passed, it would be the first time either chamber of Congress has approved a DC statehood bill. More than 220 members, all Democrats, have cosponsored the measure -- exceeding the threshold for passage in the House.
Under the bill -- introduced by Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton, DC's nonvoting member of the House -- all land in DC, except for existing federal buildings and monuments in the city, would be admitted as a state. The legislation would rename Washington, DC, as the Washington, Douglass Commonwealth, after Frederick Douglass. It would provide DC with two US senators and at least one House member.
The bill is unlikely to advance in the Republican-held Senate, where Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has said such efforts won't go anywhere as long as he controls the chamber.
Officials argued the need for statehood has become more stark in recent weeks given the federal government's mobilization of law enforcement in the city to counter racial justice protests -- including the forcible clearing of peaceful protesters outside the White House to allow President Donald Trump's photo op at a local church earlier this month.
"We know that statehood is the only way to ensure that we have full representation, that we have votes here in the United States of America capital, but also to make sure that we're fully autonomous. And that is our birthright," DC Mayor Muriel Bowser said Tuesday.
Rest - https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/16/politics/dc-statehood-vote-set/index.html
Will DC become the 51st state? Advocates argue case in Congress with boost from Democrats
...
...
Why isn't DC already a state?
The Constitution is vague on the subject of Washington. Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution allows Congress to create a "District (not exceeding ten miles square)" to become the seat of government.
Initially, Congress was given complete control over the district's legislation out of fears that a single state could wield too much power over the federal government. Later acts of Congress granted greater self-rule to the district, and the 23rd Amendment gave it three electoral votes.
James Madison wrote in the Federalist No. 43 that the federal government needed to have supreme authority at the seat of government and warned of the accumulation of too much power in a single state:
A dependence of the members of the general government on the State comprehending the seat of the government, for protection in the exercise of their duty, might bring on the national councils an imputation of awe or influence, equally dishonorable to the government and dissatisfactory to the other members of the Confederacy.
Pilon argued that "it would take a constitutional amendment" to make D.C. a state because of the 23rd Amendment.
"I don't see this bill going anywhere," he told the committee.
Rep. Ralph Norman, R-S.C., said statehood for the district would be "constitutional malfeasance.”
The possibility of the statehood bill passing into law seems slim.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., told Fox News in June that D.C. statehood would give Democrats an advantage in the Senate and allow them to expand the Supreme Court.
Rest - https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2019/09/19/dc-statehood-congress-considering-washington-51st-state/2361708001/