The House of Representatives will be voting later this month on whether to make Washington, D.C.,
the fifty first state of the United States. CBS News reporting that House Majority Leader
Steny Hoyer wrote in a letter to colleagues two, three days ago that at some point during April,
the House will hold a vote. Do we make Washington, D.C., the fifty first state? Now, of course. Of
course. Of course. It will almost certainly pass the House and it will almost certainly go nowhere
in the Senate. Most Republicans have expressed that they are against making Washington, D.C.
the fifty first state. This would not be and will not be the first time that the House of
Representatives votes to do this. The House already approved the D.C. statehood measure
in 2020 by a vote of 232 to 180, but it did not even come to the floor of the Senate. Now,
in 2020, the Senate was controlled by Republicans. Democrats now control the Senate. It's 50 50.
Democrats have a majority because by controlling the White House, Kamala Harris becomes
the tiebreaking 50 first vote in the Senate. But most legislation needs 60 votes to go forward.
This is not the type of thing making Washington, D.C. a fifty first state. That's not something
you can move forward on via budget reconciliation by every analysis that we've seen so far. So you
need to find 10 Republicans, 10 Republicans. And it is extraordinarily unlikely. We are not aware
of 10 Republicans that want to move forward with Washington, D.C. as a fifty first state
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has committed to bringing it to the floor for a vote. But again,
this gets back to the filibuster. And when we talked, what was it, January, maybe February, when
we talked about the possible paths forward on the filibuster? One of the things that we explained
was even if there's something you could pass with 50 votes, you still need 60 to end debate.
This is how this is how the filibuster works. And we talked about some filibuster reforms, making it
a talking filibuster, requiring 40 requiring 40 senators in the Senate to keep debate going at
all times. We've talked about all these things. None of these changes have been made. And so
we listed D.C. statehood and Puerto Rican statehood as specific possible issues that
will go nowhere unless some kind of filibuster reform is done. Well, it's happening now.
Sometime this month, the House is going to vote on making Washington, D.C., a 50 first state. It is
likely to pass. It will then go to the Senate and by every indication, there will not even be a vote
on it. Of course, I am in favor of D.C. statehood. We've talked before about how the population of
Washington, D.C. at 700000 is larger than the population of the state of Wyoming, which has
two senators. It's larger than the population of the state of Vermont, which has two senators.
Those in Washington, D.C., have no voting representation in Congress, but they do have
just as a sort of factual note, Eleanor Holmes Norton is a representative for Washington,
D.C. in the House, but is a non-voting delegate. So that's the latest I've said.
I would love to see this issue of D.C. statehood dealt with in a serious manner by Joe Biden.
The House is going to vote and then it is likely going to stall in the Senate. And at a certain
point, Democrats and Joe Biden are going to have to decide, are we committed to getting these
things done to the degree that we are going to do something about the filibuster, understanding
that any changes they do make to the filibuster could be a double edged sword that comes back
against them when they are not in control. I support filibuster reform. I support Washington,
D.C. as a fifty first state. I would love to hear from you. How should Democrats handle this?