Last Thursday, House Democrats just passed a bill making Washington, D.C., the 51st of the US. Having a Democrat Majority helped push the party line, but there's a roadblock ahead.
Democrat bill sets D.C. as 51st State
After the lower House passed the bill for D.C. statehood which was passed without any Republicans able to do something about it, reported the Epoch Times.
But now, the bill will have to get past the republicans who are 50-50 to the Democrats, they need to sway some GOP members to their cause. The DEMS must pass the bill because it will be key to long-term plans.
The total vote in the Lower House is 216 to 208, this bill is called the H.R. 51 that will make the District of Columbia or D.C. the 51st state in the US.
According to federal control of government is required by the Constitution, which would demand a constitutional convention to amend. However, supporters argue that H.R. 51 avoids this provision by limiting the federally managed district to a two-mile area that includes the White House, the United States Capitol, several national monuments, and other federal structures.
One of the probable criticisms about the H.R. 51 is why it should not go through the required constitutional convention to change?
The whole of Washington, D.C., if passed into law, will be called the State of Washington, Douglass Commonwealth, in memory of abolitionist Frederick Douglass.
Citizens of Washington, D.C. can currently vote in presidential elections, and the District has a representative to the Legislature, Eleanor Holmes Norton (D), but she has been unable to vote on legislation for the 51st state.
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D.C. will obtain two senators and one delegate as a consequence of statehood, further perpetuating the Democratic Party's existing power in the federal government, given the overwhelming likelihood that the district would remain blue.
According to The Hill, President Joe Biden "received the District's three electoral votes for 92 percent of the vote in last year's election."
Democrats claim that citizens of D.C. are now subjected to "representation without taxation," while Republicans view D.C. statehood as a left-wing power grab.
Democrats according to the GOP are intent on changing and attack institutions to change everything in their favor to perpetuate a power grab that most conservatives do not agree with.
H.R. 51 has already passed the House twice; the first time was just last session when it was halted in the Senate, which was then dominated by Republicans. Democrats now believe it has more traction to achieve a power grab.
"We will try to devise a way to get [statehood] done," Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) pledged Tuesday, according to the Washington Post, "and the White House asked Congress in a policy statement to pass legislation as swiftly as possible."
It will be hard to get the bill passed in the 50-50 DEMS and GOP in the Senate if the Democrats can wriggle 60 votes that are not sure yet.
Should Democrats be successful in eliminating the filibuster, as on the far left have urged, moderate Democrats such as Sens. Joe Manchin (W.Va.) and Kyrsten Sinema (Ariz.) have remained silent on H.R. 1. Which makes the bill for the 51st State of D.C. unsure.
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