Dems Make Capitol Gains on Statehood

April 23, 2021

"Racist trash." Apparently, that's what you are if you object to the far-Left's policies. In an astonishing scene on the House floor Thursday, freshman Congressman Mondaire Jones (D-N.Y.) so ferociously attacked Republicans for opposing D.C. statehood that members asked his comments stricken from the record -- a concession he finally made, but not before the damage had been done.

"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 blasted from the podium. "The truth is there is no good faith argument for disenfranchising 700,000 people, most of whom are people of color," Jones continued as GOP lawmakers called for a point of order. Actually, the good faith argument was just a few blocks away -- in the U.S. Constitution. Look, NRO's David Harsanyi wrote, "Concerning D.C. statehood, the Founders have already spoken." But then, the far-Left doesn't usually consult the law or even our own guiding document about their plans. They just plow ahead, crying racism when the opposition is too great.

Even the Washington Post's Aaron Blake argued that we've "dumbed down" this argument into nothing but partisan politics. "The idea isn't so much that D.C. doesn't necessarily deserve voting rights in the House and Senate, as much as that it would be a boon to Democrats," he writes. Exactly, Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.) said on "Washington Watch." This is about one thing and one thing only: consolidating power. Just like the Senate filibuster, nationalized elections, and the Supreme Court expansion talk, this is about creating two new Senate seats for the Democratic Party -- "two progressive senators [who will] push a radical agenda championed by the squad to reshape America into the socialist utopia they always talk about."

"In the last week, Democrats passed D.C. statehood out of the House [and] they filed a bill to stack the Supreme Court. They're trying to federalize our elections," Comer pointed out. "Everything that's coming out of the U.S. House of Representatives now is being passed on a party line vote. And it's the most liberal, radical agenda that I've seen in my lifetime."

Incredibly, when it came to an issue that should be cut and dry constitutionally, only Republicans voted against it. By a 216-208 party-line vote, House Democrats decided to essentially shred the plain text of our governing document as they plow over every obstacle in their pursuit to a permanent Leftist majority. "The founding fathers were very clear," Comer explained. "They wanted the capital city independent of any state. There are many references to the capital city in the U.S. Constitution -- no other state that was formed was ever mentioned in the Constitution previously. And the big reason it's not constitutional is the 23rd Amendment. The 23rd Amendment grants Washington, D.C. three Electoral College votes. So if H.R. 51 passes the Senate and is signed into law by President Biden, Washington, D.C. would have six Electoral College votes."

Comer said that when he brought up the 23rd Amendment during the bill mark-up, Democrat Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) admitted, "'Yeah, we'll have to obviously do away with the 23rd Amendment, because we can't have six Electoral College votes in Washington, D.C.' They would at least agree with that." But, Comer laughed, he followed that up with: "'We'll do that after the bill is passed.' Well, I don't trust them to do that after the bill is passed. There's already a precedent for how you undo a constitutional amendment -- and that was Prohibition. When Prohibition was put into the Constitution and then Congress decided to end prohibition, what did they do? They had to pass another constitutional amendment to end prohibition. So the same thing would have to happen with the 23rd Amendment."

And if Democrats are really so concerned about District residents, there are other solutions. "The right approach, really, is just give Maryland's land back, keep federal triangle, keep the White House, keep the Capitol grounds, but give everything back to Maryland," Rep. Andy Harris (R-Md.) argues. "But that's not what this agenda is all about. It's about getting two more liberal Democrat votes into the U.S. Senate." It's also about beating Republicans over the head with a completely phony racist club. This isn't about racism -- it's about constitutionalism. And like so many other things on the Left's wish list, the American people are right to be concerned.

For more on the D.C. statehood arguments, check out FRC's "Seven Things You Should Know" resource here.