A bill seeking to make Washington, D.C. the 51st state is slated for a House vote. The Democrat-led proposal will head to the floor on Thursday in a move House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has claimed will “reaffirm the truth that all deserve a voice in our democracy.”
Conservatives have long pushed against the granting of statehood to D.C. with many agreeing it’s nothing more than an attempt by the other side to get two more Democrat senators. A nearly identical bill passed the Democrat-controlled House last year, but ultimately failed in the then Republican-controlled Senate.
In a press conference last year regarding the identical bill, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) expressed his outrage of the Democrat’s attempt to shift the balance in the Senate by adding two more seats for Democrats.
“It would empower the most radical agenda in modern American politics,” he stated.”This is not about enfranchising people, this is about expanding the Senate map to accommodate the most radical agenda that I’ve ever seen since I’ve been up here.”
Democrats claim D.C. statehood is a “fight for racial justice” with D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser testifying in last months hearing on the legislation
“The simple fact is denying American citizens a vote in the body that taxes them goes against the founding principles of this great nation,” said the mayor. “The disenfranchisement of Washingtonians is one of the remaining glaring civil rights and voting rights issues of our time.”
