Tag Archives: DC Statehood

The Hill reports: GOP Sen. James Lankford (Okla.) on Tuesday vocalized opposition to making Washington, D.C. the 51st state in the union, arguing that the nation’s capital has not had voting representatives in Congress for some time and that “no one’s compelled to actually” live there. “Any individual that moves to Washington, D.C., understands that Washington, D.C. is unique,” Lankford …

The Hill reports: A Senate committee next week will hold a hearing for legislation to make Washington, D.C., the country’s 51st state, the District’s House Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton (D) announced on Tuesday. “The Senate hearing shows that momentum continues to build for our D.C. statehood bill,” the longtime D.C. House delegate said in a statement, noting that this is …

The Washington Post reports: The Democratic Governors Association on Tuesday welcomed D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser into its ranks, marking the latest effort by Democratic leaders to support making the District the nation’s 51st state. Announcing the move on CNN, New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, who chairs the association, acknowledged that Bowser is not a governor. But citing the …

The DCist reports: Sen. Joe Manchin III (D-West Virginia) said Friday that he opposes the current bill to make D.C. the 51st state, adding that he’d prefer to see the issue taken up through a constitutional amendment. “If Congress wants to make D.C. a state, it should propose a constitutional amendment. It should propose a constitutional amendment, and let the …

Forbes reports: In a floor speech, Rep. Mondaire Jones, a progressive freshman and a vocal advocate for statehood, took aim at Rep. Jody Hice’s (R-Ga.) claim D.C. has no landfills., as well as Sen. Tom Cotton’s (R-Ark.) contrast between D.C. and a “well-rounded, working class state” like Wyoming. “I had no idea there were so many syllables in the word …

The Hill reports: Republican Sen. Roger Marshall (Kan.) introduced a bill on Thursday to make Washington, D.C., part of the state of Maryland in response to the House passing a bill to make D.C. the 51st state in the U.S. The issue of D.C. statehood is split between Democrats and Republicans due to the likelihood the District would elect Democrats …

USA Today reports: The Democratic-led House of Representatives again passed legislation Thursday that would make Washington, D.C. the 51st state — something residents and leaders in the nation’s capital have been requesting for decades. The bill passed 216 to 208. But the Washington, D.C. Admission Act faces slim chances of advancing in the split Senate, where it would need GOP …

Raw Story reports: Rep. Steve Scalise (R-LA) on Wednesday came out against making Washington D.C. its own state on the basis that the nation’s Capitol can’t keep its residents safe from “criminals.” A memo from Scalise argued that D.C. should not be granted statehood in part because its government “can’t perform basic governmental duties like protecting its residents from criminals.” …

Via press release from the White House: For far too long, the more than 700,000 people of Washington, D.C. have been deprived of full representation in the U.S. Congress. This taxation without representation and denial of self-governance is an affront to the democratic values on which our Nation was founded. H.R. 51 rights this wrong by making Washington, D.C. a …

The American Independent reports: Rep. Jody Hice (R-GA) on Monday argued against granting Washington, D.C., statehood because, he says, the founding fathers didn’t want states that didn’t have airports, car dealerships, or garbage dumps — which he claimed the District doesn’t have. “Under this bill, D.C. would in fact become the first among states — which is exactly our founders …

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 …

The Hill reports: A group of Senate Democrats led by Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.) reintroduced legislation to give Washington, D.C., statehood on Wednesday, marking the first major efforts to push toward statehood since the Capitol riots earlier this month. The bill, which was first introduced in 2013, would give citizens of the District full authority over local issues, as well …

Roll Call reports: Republican senators came out swinging today against a bill passed in the House last week that would make the District of Columbia the 51st state.  Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-SC, was joined by Sens. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., and Steve Daines, R-Mont., who noted a Gallup poll that found a majority of Americans believed Washington should not be a …

CNN reports: House Democrats approved a bill to admit Washington, DC, as a state on Friday, marking the first time either chamber of Congress has advanced a DC statehood measure. The bill, introduced by DC’s nonvoting House member, Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton, would shrink the federal capital to a small area encompassing the White House, Capitol building, Supreme Court, and …

The Washington Post reports: House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer (D-Md.) has chosen June 26 to hold the first floor vote in a generation on D.C. statehood, hoping to harness a national reckoning on race and capitalize on widespread outrage over the federal response to street protests in the nation’s capital. Officials expect legislation making the District the 51st state …

From a statement by Rep. Steny Hoyer: “President Trump’s behavior in the District of Columbia in recent days, as well as his threats to impose his dangerous and callous will on a city about which he has proven again and again he has no understanding of, has underscored in dramatic terms the urgency of giving the District the same constitutional …

“DC will never be a state. You mean District of Columbia, a state? Why? So we can have two more Democratic — Democrat senators and five more congressmen? No thank you. That’ll never happen. “They want to do that so they pick up two automatic Democrat — you know it’s a 100 percent Democrat, basically — so why would the …