Statehood for District of Columbia and Puerto Rico

[LFC]

This thread is being set up for all things about the push for statehood of D.C. and P.R. Republicans will, of course, be digging in hard to prevent it.

First up we have a lying Republican (but I repeat myself) babbling like the complete f***wit that he is.

Rep. Jody Hice (R-GA) on Monday went on a fact-free diatribe against a proposal to make Washington D.C. a state by falsely claiming that it would be the only state in America to lack a car dealership.

During a hearing on D.C. statehood legislation, Hice complained that making the nation's capital a state would give it "special" treatment even though its nearly 700,000 residents currently have no representation in either chamber of Congress.

Hice then tried to claim that D.C. lacks the features of other states throughout the country.

"It would be the only state, the only state without an airport and without a car dealership and without a capital city and without a landfill!" he fumed. "D.C. statehood would be a money grab from neighboring states and a power grab!"

In fact, a quick search of Cars.com reveals that there are multiple car dealerships located in Washington D.C.

Then we have this f***wit. I don't know what point he's trying to make but I'm sure it's stupid.

A member of a conservative think tank argued on Monday that residents of the District of Columbia don't deserve statehood because they already have yard signs and bumper stickers.

Zack Smith of the Heritage Foundation made the remarks while testifying before the House Oversight and Reform Committee.

"Framers also wanted to avoid one state having undue influence over the federal government," Smith said. "There's no question that D.C. residents already impact the national debate."

"For the members here today, how many of you saw D.C. statehood yard signs or bumper stickers or banners on your way to this hearing today?" he asked. "I certainly did. Where else in the nation could such simple actions reach so many members of Congress?"

[LFC]

Faced with no reason other than it will be Democratic the Republicans are tossing out bullshit, which is their standard approach to everything they don't like. This one says there aren't enough people in D.C.

Rep. Nancy Mace on Tuesday (R-SC) offered faulty reasoning for denying statehood to Washington, D.C. suggesting that its population size fell short of qualifying for a congressional district.

“D.C. wouldn’t even qualify as a singular congressional district,” Mace said on Tuesday. “And here they are, they want the power and the authority of being an entire state in the United States.”

Mace’s comments come as the House prepares to vote on an act next week which would designate Washington, D.C. as the nation’s 51st state.

The problem with her logic however is that two states — Wyoming and Vermont — have populations smaller than that of the District of Columbia. Ironically, Mace made the comments while standing next to House Republican Conference Chair Liz Cheney, who represents Wyoming.

While the average size of a congressional district was just over 710,000 residents, according to a 2010 Census report, both Wyoming and Vermont each have fewer residents than Washington, D.C. whose population hovers at roughly 705,000, according to a 2019 tally.

When applying Mace’s population size logic, both Wyoming and Vermont also would be disqualified from earning a congressional district.

Beneath Mace’s argument is a fear among Republicans that designating the District of Columbia as a state would help Democrats, likely affording them two additional Democratic senators.

Just for fun I looked up states by GDP. If you sort by "% of National" it turns out that D.C. ranks 18th. Vermont and Wyoming are the two lowest. If you look up GDP per capita it's the highest in the nation by far. So by Republican logic since they're clearly the "makers" they should get representation equal to the many red state "takers", right?

[LFC]

Rep. Mondaire Jones (D-NY) just took the bullshit bad faith arguments the Republicans have been throwing up against D.C. statehood and shoved it up their noses. Saying their response was shrill is an understatement. Poor little butthurt fascist white supremacists. They hate it when they're called out.

Rep. Mondaire Jones (D-NY) took the floor Thursday morning, one of a long line of representatives getting a minute of floor time to make the case for D.C. statehood before the House passed it this afternoon.

“I have had enough of my colleagues’ racist insinuations that somehow the people of Washington D.C. are incapable or even unworthy of our democracy,” he started.

“One Senate Republican said that D.C. wouldn’t be a ‘well-rounded working class state,’” he chuckled, referring to Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR). “I had no idea there were so many syllables in the word ‘white.’”

“One of my House Republican colleagues said that D.C. shouldn’t be a state because the district doesn’t have a landfill — my goodness!” he exclaimed. “With all the racist trash my colleagues have brought to this debate, I can see why they’re worried about having a place to put it.”

About halfway through his sentence, the Republican side of the chamber erupted. “Mr. Speaker, point of order!” someone shouted. Jones glanced over, but continued speaking.

“The truth is, there is no good faith argument for disenfranchising over 700,000 people, Mr. Speaker, most of whom are people of color,” he said.

The yells on the Republican side grew louder, as representatives demanded that Jones’ words be struck from the record.

“Do your job!” Republicans yelled at the presiding speaker. “Read the rules!”

Jones gave his consent for his words to be withdrawn, then finished his speech.

“These desperate objections are about fear — fear that in D.C., their white supremacist politics will no longer play,” Jones said. “Fear that soon enough, their white supremacist politics won’t work anywhere in America. Fear that if they don’t rig our democracy, they will not win.”

With that, Jones left the microphone, leaving Republicans stewing in his wake.

I have little idea who Mondaire Jones is but this was awesome and funny as f***. "I had no idea there were so many syllables in the word ‘white.’"  I'm still giggling.

[pnwguy]

Apr 22, 2021 17:46:15 GMT LFC said:

I have little idea who Mondaire Jones is but this was awesome and funny as f***. "I had no idea there were so many syllables in the word ‘white.’"  I'm still giggling.

Tom Cotton forgot Anglo-Saxon?  He could have picked up 4 more syllables for 'white'.

[andydp]

Apr 22, 2021 17:46:15 GMT LFC said:

Rep. Mondaire Jones (D-NY) just took the bullshit bad faith arguments the Republicans have been throwing up against D.C. statehood and shoved it up their noses. Saying their response was shrill is an understatement. Poor little butthurt fascist white supremacists. They hate it when they're called out.

Rep. Mondaire Jones (D-NY) took the floor Thursday morning, one of a long line of representatives getting a minute of floor time to make the case for D.C. statehood before the House passed it this afternoon.

“I have had enough of my colleagues’ racist insinuations that somehow the people of Washington D.C. are incapable or even unworthy of our democracy,” he started.

“One Senate Republican said that D.C. wouldn’t be a ‘well-rounded working class state,’” he chuckled, referring to Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR). “I had no idea there were so many syllables in the word ‘white.’”

“One of my House Republican colleagues said that D.C. shouldn’t be a state because the district doesn’t have a landfill — my goodness!” he exclaimed. “With all the racist trash my colleagues have brought to this debate, I can see why they’re worried about having a place to put it.”

About halfway through his sentence, the Republican side of the chamber erupted. “Mr. Speaker, point of order!” someone shouted. Jones glanced over, but continued speaking.

“The truth is, there is no good faith argument for disenfranchising over 700,000 people, Mr. Speaker, most of whom are people of color,” he said.

The yells on the Republican side grew louder, as representatives demanded that Jones’ words be struck from the record.

“Do your job!” Republicans yelled at the presiding speaker. “Read the rules!”

Jones gave his consent for his words to be withdrawn, then finished his speech.

“These desperate objections are about fear — fear that in D.C., their white supremacist politics will no longer play,” Jones said. “Fear that soon enough, their white supremacist politics won’t work anywhere in America. Fear that if they don’t rig our democracy, they will not win.”

With that, Jones left the microphone, leaving Republicans stewing in his wake.

I have little idea who Mondaire Jones is but this was awesome and funny as f***. "I had no idea there were so many syllables in the word ‘white.’"  I'm still giggling.

Lesson learned:  don't try to trash talk someone from NY.  You couldn't handle the response.

[LFC]

[sigh] Once again Joe Manchin claims to have a principle but it requires reality to be completely ignored.

Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV), a key swing vote in a push to make the District of Columbia the nation’s 51st state, said Friday he does not support a bill supported by a vast majority of his Democratic colleagues to approve DC statehood.

“If Congress wants to make DC a state, it should propose a constitutional amendment,” Manchin said in a radio interview with West Virginia’s MetroNews Talkline on Friday. “Let the people of America vote.”

The comments come after the “Washington, D.C. Admission Act,” passed the House for the second time in history last week on a strictly party-line vote.

The bill already faced a long shot battle in the Senate, even if its supporters managed to win Manchin’s backing, due to the Senate filibuster which would require support for DC statehood from 60 senators in order to advance.

Manchin’s opposition to the bill, however, follows earlier efforts by the West Virginia Democrat to challenge calls from other Democrats to reform the filibuster.

He has also broken with Democrats on implementing a $15 minimum wage, and on some of President Joe Biden’s plans for federal spending and taxation.

Another reason America can't have nice things.

[jackd]

People complaining about Joe Manchin (like me) need to remember that without him, there is a Republican majority in the Senate.

[Traveler]

Which is why a commenter over on BB calls him president Manchin. Dude has awesome powers. Question is, will he use them sensibly? Or will he let his quest for bipartisan perfection be the enemy of the good achievements?

[Deleted]

May 3, 2021 3:09:13 GMT jackd said:

People complaining about Joe Manchin (like me) need to remember that without him, there is a Republican majority in the Senate.

Not a chance. Joe keeps reminding everyone everyday, lest anyone forgets. Just to underscore that point, occasionally, he even hints he has options open as there have been Republican overtures. 

In anycase, we have to bear with him till Jan '22. His influence would evaporate.

[Deleted]

May 3, 2021 13:14:23 GMT Traveler said:

Which is why a commenter over on BB calls him president Manchin. Dude has awesome powers. Question is, will he use them sensibly? Or will he let his quest for bipartisan perfection be the enemy of the good achievements?

Bipartisanship is a euphemism for "don't jeopardize my reeelection chances". He may run for Governor again.

[Traveler]

In which case he is perfectly justified, not. The man has to look at how history will judge him as well. If he shits the bed for everyone and gets nothing out of it, what good is that. Remember Snowe.

[LFC]

It's not going to happen but here's yet another reason why DC needs statehood. The Republicans in particular have spent years f***ing the residents over.

Like many cities, the District of Columbia has seen gun violence rise even as overall crime has declined. Ghost guns have flooded into the city, prompting DC Democratic Party chair Charles E. Wilson to take his kids trick-or-treating in a safer area than Anacostia, where he lives. He made the right choice. While they were out, random gunshots struck his house.

One big reason for DC’s problems is that its judicial system, controlled by Congress, is a mess. There are crippling vacancies on the Superior Court (14 of 62 seats unfilled) and Appeals Court (three of nine seats unfilled).

The result is that the courts are so backed up that people can spend more time waiting for a hearing than they would serve if convicted. And it’s not just criminal prosecutions that suffer, it’s child custody fights, family law, and the settling of estates—the stuff of everyday life.

The Senate confirmed by voice vote more than a dozen Biden judges before leaving for the holidays but none for the District of Columbia. Florida Senator Rick Scott blocked a move to confirm several DC nominees by unanimous consent, returning them to wait in line indefinitely for another opening in a crowded legislative calendar.

“I have absolutely no faith that Joe Biden’s radical far-left nominees will uphold the rule of law,” Scott said by way of explanation.

Republicans like to call for law and order, but where are the judges?

“Until we get statehood, we will not have full control of our courts,” says Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton, DC’s non-voting member of Congress. She offers an interim solution, the DC Vacancy Reduction Act, that would apply the same standard of congressional oversight for DC judges as DC legislation—a review period of 30 working days, after which legislation is approved.

[goldenvalley]

Jan 4, 2022 18:09:51 GMT LFC said:

It's not going to happen but here's yet another reason why DC needs statehood. The Republicans in particular have spent years f***ing the residents over.

Like many cities, the District of Columbia has seen gun violence rise even as overall crime has declined. Ghost guns have flooded into the city, prompting DC Democratic Party chair Charles E. Wilson to take his kids trick-or-treating in a safer area than Anacostia, where he lives. He made the right choice. While they were out, random gunshots struck his house.

One big reason for DC’s problems is that its judicial system, controlled by Congress, is a mess. There are crippling vacancies on the Superior Court (14 of 62 seats unfilled) and Appeals Court (three of nine seats unfilled).

The result is that the courts are so backed up that people can spend more time waiting for a hearing than they would serve if convicted. And it’s not just criminal prosecutions that suffer, it’s child custody fights, family law, and the settling of estates—the stuff of everyday life.

The Senate confirmed by voice vote more than a dozen Biden judges before leaving for the holidays but none for the District of Columbia. Florida Senator Rick Scott blocked a move to confirm several DC nominees by unanimous consent, returning them to wait in line indefinitely for another opening in a crowded legislative calendar.

“I have absolutely no faith that Joe Biden’s radical far-left nominees will uphold the rule of law,” Scott said by way of explanation.

Republicans like to call for law and order, but where are the judges?

“Until we get statehood, we will not have full control of our courts,” says Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton, DC’s non-voting member of Congress. She offers an interim solution, the DC Vacancy Reduction Act, that would apply the same standard of congressional oversight for DC judges as DC legislation—a review period of 30 working days, after which legislation is approved.

The US should get out of the colonization business...DC and Puerto Rico plus the various islands in the Pacific should have actual voting representation in Congress.  

[jackd]

Puerto Rico's citizens haven't decided that they want to be a state even if Congress would allow it which, as you note, is unlikely.

[LFC]

Jan 4, 2022 21:11:24 GMT jackd said:

Puerto Rico's citizens haven't decided that they want to be a state even if Congress would allow it which, as you note, is unlikely.

They actually voted for statehood in the 2020 referendum, not that I'm saying that the vote is the last word on the subject. The tally was 52.34% for statehood, 47.66% against. That's still pretty close.