Washington D.C. is one step closer to becoming the 51st state, The Hill reports.
In a 232-180 vote on Friday, the House of Representatives signed off on granting statehood to the District.
Every Democrat, but one, Rep. Collin Peterson, of Minn., voted in favor of the proposal, which was sponsored by D.C. Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton. Every Republican opposed turning D.C. into a state.
D.C. will face an uphill battle on its quest to become a state in the Republican-controlled Senate. President Donald Trump also has threatened to veto the proposal if a bill makes it up to him for approval.
Nevertheless, the House vote Friday was the first time either chamber has approved legislation regarding the District becoming a state.
Demand for D.C. to become a state has gained traction amid calls for racial justice following the death of George Floyd, a black man, by a white former police officer last month. Democrats hope to use D.C. becoming a state as a way to empower Black Americans and other minorities, according to The Hill.
“People in the District of Columbia pay taxes, fight our wars, risk their lives for our democracy. And yet . . . they have no vote in the House or the Senate about whether we go to war, and how those taxes are exacted and how this is all played, Speaker Nancy Pelosi said in the Capitol prior to the vote. “We're at a state of compromise, and we think it's very long overdue.”
If the bill was approved, D.C. would be allowed one voting representative in the House and two in the Senate.
Currently, D.C. has one delegate with voting powers only in committees. There is no representation in the Senate.
Republicans don’t support D.C. becoming a state. Some claim granting statehood is unconstitutional because the city was slated to be a neutral zone.
“My friends on the other side of the aisle may gasp and protest and outrage at the suggestion that what this is all about is an attempt to get two more Democratic senators. But that's what this is really all about,” Rep. Jody Hice, R-Ga., said on the floor. “The Constitution clearly establishes a federation of sovereign states, [and] the representation here in Washington, D.C., comes from those states, the federation of those states. This city, this district is a unique entity.”
© 2024 Newsmax. All rights reserved.