House Set To Vote On Washington DC Statehood Bill | Morning Joe | MSNBC

Rep. Steny Hoyer, D-Md., discusses the House's planned vote on a a bill that would make Washington, D.C., the nation’s 51st state. The bill is backed by President Biden and top Democrats but faces long odds in the Senate. Aired on 04/22/2021.
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House Set To Vote On Washington DC Statehood Bill | Morning Joe | MSNBC

56 comments

  1. There’s no way Republicans are going to vote for this because they think it’s going to give the Democrat two more senators. They would rather disenfranchise people and lose their power

    1. In a century, every single Republican President crashed the economy. During that same century Obama had no crash, 8yrs in office. No criminal indictments, no convictions and no prison sentences.

      Clinton had a federal budget surplus that would have paid off the national debt in less than a decade, and FDR got us rebuilt from the Great Depression and set us up to win WW2.

      As usual, Dems inherit a mess and another recession: 1933, 1960, 1976, 1992, 2008, 2020.

    2. @John Browneyes lol the tyt stan’s have arrived.. Obama put kids in cages, started 7 wars, Clinton signed into law all the crap blm was angry about before unmasking as straight up communists and Biden wrote those laws lol

    1. To my understanding those who want Puerto Rico to become an independent nation do not participate in the “statehood elections”. Therefore the outcomes may not be the perfect measurement of what Puerto Ricans want. I think the plan a House majority is working on is to have the people of PR first vote to create some commission or similar who will analyze what Puerto Ricans want. Then later Puerto Ricans will vote to create different “parties” that will work to provide agendas for alternatives requested by Puerto Ricans. And after those different alternatives are presented, they will vote for which one they prefer. It can be becoming a state, remain in the same relationship as earlier, possibly more independence, or creating some other relationship to the federal US. So it will likely take some time.
      With DC it’s clear… a large majority in DC want statehood.

    2. 80% of Puerto Ricans couldn’t even have a conversation with your average mainland American. They are too culturally different from the rest of the US to be a state. Might as well take a part of Mexico and make it a state.
      Also DC is a seventeenth of the size of Rhode Island, and there are people who seriously want to make it an entire state? The bill is an effort to shoehorn in Democratic senators and nothing more.

    3. @Guyerino Stefanson people don’t have to think the same way to particpate in the same democracy, so if the people of the PR decide they want statehood there’s no good reason why those US citizens should have less voting power than you or me.

      Also, people vote not land. There are more citizens in DC than Wyoming, so they should atleast have the voting power that people do in that state. Don’t worry, even with DC statehood your party will still have a significant advantage and be able to win majorities in the senate with a minority of the population. DC statehood will just decrease the advantage that Republicans have.

    4. @Ethan
      It’s not a matter of thinking the same way, it’s that the majority of the Puerto Rican population can’t even speak English, something obviously vital for just about every US citizen. The people of PR haven’t really shown that they want to be a state either, because although a very slight majority who voted said they wanted statehood in the november 2020 referendum, 45% of the population didn’t vote and those who wanted full independence (which means not being a state) likely didn’t turn out much in the first place. Plus the owner of a house decides if they should let someone into their house, not the person who wants to come in, and rightly so. Likewise even if a majority of Puerto Ricans undoubtedly wanted statehood, it doesn’t necessarily mean PR should become a state just because of it.

      You are right that people vote, not land, but land also has a lot of implications that must be tended to. People in a very small but populous, urban area have very different values and ways of life than people in larger but less populous, rural areas. Many people confined to a small place should not be able to overwhelmingly bully those who live otherwise far away just because they are more numerous. Across the country there are not just different amounts of people but different groups of people, and one group forcing the other groups to do what they want is tyranny of the majority and mob rule. The founders agreed on this when they agreed on the Connecticut compromise. Adding DC as a state upsets the balance of groups even further. It would be far more reasonable to make DC a part of Maryland to give its residents representation but Democratic legislators are hungry for control so they want another state for free senators.

    5. @Guyerino Stefanson No es nececario hablar inglés pars entender cuales politicos son malos y cuales son mejorers. Para ejamplo, hablas inglés pero mi intuición está diciéndome que un burro puedo votar con más inteligencia que tu. Pero no pienso que puedes entender estas cosas pendejo.

  2. Why do 50% if all our legislators look like old, withered, cynical millionaires? Why does Moscow Mitch look like a jaundiced tortoise?

    1. If DC statehood passes, democratic control of the Senate will be almost guaranteed in the next few years, making the vote for Puerto Rico’s almost a sure thing. If DC passes, Puerto Rico follows.

    2. @My Getaway i hope you are right. That would screw up the gop scam of gerrymandering and voter suppression. They haven’t legitimately won an election in decades. The only 3 people to ever lose the pop vote and still be president are all recent conservatives. George Bush was the first in history.

    3. The Jones Act was morally wrong and undemocratic from the onset. Puerto Rico should have the choice wither to apply for statehood if it wishes to do so. As do Guam and the Virgin Islands by the way. It should not be up to politicians from other parts of the country, certainly not up to the Republicans.

    1. Add the territory back to Maryland or allow them not to pay taxes would be a simpler sollution. But no, this is about a power grab. It looks DOA either way, so w/e.

  3. Saying ” I think” the reason why Republicans may not support this bill. Is because they’re concerned the new State of the District of Columbia might elect Democrats to the Senate. It’s like saying “I think” if I jump from the top of the Gateway Arch I might die.

    1. @psycobleach46 tullis It is unconstitutional because the constitution considers it a federal district under jurisdiction of the United States Congress. The 23rd Amendment would also need to be repealed.

    1. Nancy’s getting rich off of us taxpayers. REALLY??? How about the big orange 👿? He’s STILL asking for donations to “supposedly” fight legal challenges that were of his own making. PLEASE, 👿 supporters. He’s trying to make imbeciles out of you ALL. Ure only giving money to him for his hair plugs and fake orange spray tans! If you want to donate Ur hard-earned money, think about donating it to a worthy person or organization that’s NOT gonna turn around and file for bankruptcy again 🙏

    2. Amy Boyce I knew it wouldn’t take long to see something about Trump..You people are pathetic

    3. My Getaway lol you think her paycheck alone makes her as rich as she is? My wife & i together made what this old coot made last year & we are far from rich LMFAO

    1. Wonder how they’re gonna work that one out. The way such matters were originally worked out is hardly gonna fly these days!

  4. I am originally born and raised in Massachusetts, and I think it’s time for DC residents to throw ” a Tea Party! As Nancy Pelosi said, Taxation without Representation, echoed what was said in the 1700’s in Boston against the British, who were taxing the colonies without any membership in England. That was the beginning and DC should be the end of it!

    1. DC & PR certainly, but where your rationale for the rest? They don’t share the same status nor have the same political, financial and cultural relationship with the US

  5. My biggest takeaway from this is learning that you could be taxed, but not have representation. It’s like forcing people to work for you, but them not expecting to be paid. I seem to recall that being a bad thing too.

    1. Nobody is being forced to do anything. People choose to live in DC for various reasons. It is very similar to owning property in several states, which I have done in the past. I am taxed in those dates in which I own property. In some cases a tax levy is very steep. Yet, I cannot vote for national representatives or even local representatives. I’m not forced to buy property in these other states but I did sell as an investment and therefore must face the consequences of being disenfranchised in those particular stage.
      People who live in DC can vote for mayor as well as city representatives. Nobody is forced to live there however unless their occupation requires them to live in DC.

  6. Taxation without representation, seems like we fought a war over those words. Granted it’s doubtful that anyone thought DC would grow to a city of its own with more population that many states, but here we are,

  7. I am still confused as to why people who live in rural areas of towns in the south cannot vote in Mayoral elections. They pay taxes, contribute to the town’s economy shopping in stores, and their addresses are listed with the town they live in.

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