House Dems Schedule Vote on DC Statehood

Democrats controlling the House have slated a vote next week to make the District of Columbia the 51st state.

Next Friday’s vote, if successful, would pass a D.C. statehood bill for the first time in the House, but the legislation faces insurmountable opposition in the GOP-controlled Senate.

It comes even as the coronavirus pandemic has forced delays in the consideration of most other legislation. More than enough lawmakers are officially backing the bill for it to pass.

Democratic Majority Leader Steny Hoyer said that now is “an appropriate time to bring a bill forward to show respect for the citizens of the District of Columbia.”

Democratic leaders scheduled the vote in response to President Trump’s appearance at St. John’s Episcopal Church two weeks ago.

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People have challenged reports that police used tear gas to clear peaceful protesters from the location.

“There shouldn’t be troops from other states in Washington, D.C.,” Mayor Muriel Bowser said.

“There shouldn’t be federal forces advancing against Americans, and there very definitely shouldn’t be soldiers stationed around our city waiting for the go to attack Americans in a local policing matter.”

The fight for statehood cannot be separated from the fight for racial justice. Help us push, more unified than ever before, for the District to become the 51st state. #DCStatehoodhttps://t.co/9rzJ9E8W12

— Mayor Muriel Bowser (@MayorBowser) June 16, 2020

Trump said this week that “D.C. will never be a state.”

“No, thank you. That’ll never happen,” he told the New York Post.

The city is largely Democratic, so statehood would likely mean two more Democratic senators.

Bowser pointed out that D.C. taxpayers get no voting representatives in Congress despite contributing more in federal taxes on a per person basis than many states.

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“What kind of concept is it that if I move to our nation’s capital I am less of a citizen of the United States of America?” Hoyer said.

In 1993, the Democratic-controlled Congress defeated a D.C. statehood bill by an almost 2-1 margin.

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