House Dems Pass Bill For D.C. Statehood

From CNN:

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 other federal buildings along the National Mall. The rest of the city would become the 51st state, named the Washington, Douglass Commonwealth after abolitionist Frederick Douglass.
                                                                                                                              The bill passed with a vote of 232-180. Rep. Collin Peterson of Minnesota was the only Democrat to join Republicans in voting against it. Libertarian Rep. Justin Amash of Michigan also voted no.
                                                                                                                                 The bill would grant DC two senators and make the existing sole House representative a voting member.

It is unlikely to gain traction in the Republican-held Senate, however, and the White House said this week that President Donald Trump would veto the bill if it came to his desk.
                                                                                                                                Trump told the New York Post in an interview last month that DC statehood will "never happen unless we have some very, very stupid Republicans."
                                                                                                                          "DC will never be a state," Trump said in the interview. "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."
                                                                                                                                 Democrats in recent weeks have argued the nefcessity for statehood has never been clearer, after the Trump administration mobilized federal law enforcement to respond to protests about systemic racism in policing. They expressed outrage with the decision to forcibly clear peaceful protesters from outside the White House earlier this month, which was done to allow Trump's photo op at St. John's church.
                                                                                                                                "Not only do we not have voting senators and our congresswoman not have the right to vote, the whims of the federal government can encroach on our even limited autonomy, and it can do so in ways that are threats to all of the American states and all of the American people," Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser said Thursday.                                                                                                                                                     "Let's fight back against the cries that we're too liberal or we're too black or there are too many Democrats. Who we elect is our business, and the business of America is to make sure that each person is represented fully in this House and in the Senate of the United States of America."

And from ABC:

Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D.-N.Y., countered Hice, saying "the question for Republicans are these. Do they truly believe in the taxation without representation? Do you truly believe in states' rights? Do you truly believe in believe the federal government should stay out of local affairs? If you do, then join us, and act on these beliefs today."

Ahead of the vote, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Republicans shouldn't block the vote because D.C. representatives would be Demcorats.

"That shouldn't be how we have enfranchisement in our country, what's the nature of the vote," Pelosi, D.-Calif., said at a press conference at the Capitol Friday morning.

"The fact is, people in the District of Columbia pay taxes, fight our wars, risk their lives for our democracy, and yet in this state, in this place, they have no vote in the House or the Senate about whether we go to war and how those taxes are exacted and how it's all played," said Pelosi.

Actually, no, it's a constitutional issue. 

And therein lies the rub. 

The induction of DC as a state doesn't just require a simple vote. It requires a complete amendment to the constitution. 

Why?

Because the founders of our country envisioned a capitol that was for all Americans!

The district status of DC was instituted so that the people of the city-state like capitol could not have undue influence over federal governance. 

DC residents can vote for President, municipal officials and have reps in the House who have special status, but cannot vote on national legislation. 

But undue federal influence is exactly why the Dems want DC as a state. They care because the residents of DC largely vote Democratic. 

It's not about the civic rights of the people there. It's about stacking the deck against conservatives even further. 

Above all else, it's just another affront on our Constitution, which the left wants to attack from all angles. 

Need I say more?