Posted on 09/19/2019 9:15:17 AM PDT by jazusamo
House Democrats, in their first hearing on D.C. statehood in more than 25 years, on Thursday advocated for the District of Columbia to become the country’s 51st state as Republicans raised concerns about recent corruption scandals involving local D.C. officials.
Critics of D.C. statehood have long cited local corruption as one reason to oppose statehood.
Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan, the top Republican on the House Oversight and Reform Committee, said he wanted Thursday’s hearing to delve into the ongoing scandal involving D.C. Councilman Jack Evans.
Evans resigned from his role as the chairman of the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority board this summer after an internal investigation determined that he failed to disclose a profitable conflict of interest. But committee Democrats denied his request, he said.
“Sadly the allegations against Mr. Evans are just the latest in a series of local D.C. political scandals,” Jordan said, ticking off several former D.C. city officials embroiled in past scandals. “We cannot and should not ignore these unpleasant facts.”
Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton, the sponsor of the D.C. statehood bill and the district's non-voting House representative, pushed back against the argument.
“The allegations against Mr. Evans have nothing to do with D.C. statehood,” she said.
The D.C. statehood bill has more than 200 co-sponsors and the support of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, both Democrats. No Republicans in Congress have signed on to the legislation.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
I hope there is enough opposition so they don’t have a chance.
DC Statehood is perennial loser. It should fail again. DC has a very corrrupt political class. Its government is corrupt.
Return the rest of D.C. to Virginia. Maryland has its bit.
Then move the seat of government to Alaska above the Arctic circle.
DOA in the Senate. Like Republicans would happily give the Democrats two new US Senate seats in perpetuity? Dream on.
Me too. I think it’s unlikely now that it has a chance but the Rats will keep trying should they ever control the three branches again.
It seems to me that since Congress is the government of DC, that an organic act creating this "state" would arise from Congress petitioning itself.
Allowing this would be as unwise as allowing Congress to award itself 3 electoral votes in 1960.
I wonder if their enthusiasm would change if walk away really took off
Rust never sleeps.
The District of Columbia only makes a decent sized COUNTY, and is far from being a reasonably sized state.
Now, if some enterprising politician wants to widen the circle a little bit, and take the surrounding collar counties in Maryland, Virginia and West Virginia, then include THAT area, they might have the nucleus of a decent sized state. But DC alone?
Unh-unh.
Most pf the rest of Virginia would be HAPPY to be rid of that part of the state that borders on the Potomac, and return to their cherished ways of patrician independence from the DC monstrosity,
No to DC statehood, No to Puerto Rican statehood.
Bump!
Denied.
The article states it would more than likely require a Constitutional Amendment.
You are correct on all accounts.
Virginia already got their part back. It is now Arlington. Rest of it belongs to Maryland except for federal buildings.
I think a much better idea would be for the federal government to use eminent domain of the entire district. Then they could bulldoze the slums, totally rebuild the decrepit infrastructure, and build a commercial district that would be only leased to businesses.
Other than VIP and embassy vehicles, most traffic would be by public transport. A back route for delivery trucks would be out of the way.
Its land area is only 61 square miles.
Everything besides Federal property needs to just be split up between Maryland and Virginia. It’s tough to split up a sh*thole but they own it.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.