The Democratic-controlled House of Representatives pushed through a longstanding progressive proposal on Thursday.
According to Breitbart, the party-line vote advanced legislation aimed at granting statehood to Washington, D.C. The final vote tally was 216-208.
“Equal footing with the other states”
H.R. 51 “provides for admission into the United States of the state of Washington, Douglass Commonwealth, composed of most of the territory of the District of Columbia,” as stated on the House website.
Furthermore, the bill seeks to put the nation’s capital “on an equal footing with the other states.”
Of course, this is just the latest effort by Democrats to transform D.C. into a state, which it was not originally intended to be, in an apparent effort to expand the party’s congressional representation.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) defended the bill in a statement, declaring that the people of D.C. are being “denied their right to fully participate in their democracy” since they do not have direct representation on Capitol Hill.
The district “pays more federal taxes per capita than any other state” and has a budget larger than a dozen U.S. states, she said.
“Fighting for voting rights for 220 years”
“Its population is larger than two states,” Pelosi continued. “Its people have been fighting for voting rights for 220 years, with a full 86% recently voting for statehood.”
As a result, she said the time has come for D.C. to become a state — but Republicans are accusing her and her party of plotting another blatant power grab.
“Let’s be clear what H.R. 15 is all about,” said U.S. Rep. James Comer (R-KY). “It’s about Democrats adding two new progressive U.S. senators to push a radical agenda championed by the Squad to reshape America into the socialist utopia they dream about.”
Other Republicans, including Rep. Jody Hice (R-GA), pointed out flaws in Pelosi’s argument, noting that D.C. does have local representation, a delegate in the House, and electoral votes.
The bill will now head to the Senate, where it stands little chance of passing in the evenly divided chamber. Several Democrats, including Sens. Mark Kelly (D-AZ), Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ), and Joe Manchin (D-WV), have indicated that they are considering a vote against the proposal.
The post Democrats advance House bill to grant statehood to DC first appeared on Conservative Institute.
No comments: