Action On Statehood For DC Begins Again On Monday

The Washington Post reports:

The fight is arriving on Capitol Hill: The House Oversight and Reform Committee on Monday will convene a hearing on a statehood bill, and Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer (D-Md.) said in an interview he expects that the bill will pass the House before summer.

Statehood advocates still face major obstacles: They do not yet have 51 allies inside the Senate, and as long as the body’s filibuster rule requiring a supermajority margin for most legislation remains intact, it will take even more support than that.

The statehood legislation would shrink the federal district to a two-square-mile enclave of federal buildings, including the White House, the Capitol and the Supreme Court. The rest of the District would become the 51st state: the State of Washington, Douglass Commonwealth — honoring abolitionist Frederick Douglass.

Read the full article. Last June the House approved a DC statehood bill in 232-180 vote. No Republicans voted yes.

D.C. statehood moves from political fringe to the center of the national Democratic agenda — a bird’s eye view of statehood ahead of Monday’s hearing, w/ @mikedebonis https://t.co/mosyJd5Qjy

— Meagan Flynn (@Meagan_Flynn) March 20, 2021