Understanding you can act on
 | |||
| Follow us... | |||
 |  | ||
| Published: | 2016-May-08 |
| Last Updated: | 2017-Mar-07 |
| Principal Writer: | Barry Shatzman |
 | Understanding The Issue |
| Issue Status |
| Our Analysis and Actions |
| What You Can Do |
| More Information |
 | The Rumor Mill |
Washington, D.C. Admission Act
2017 (HR-1291)
New Columbia Admission Act2015 (HR-317)
WE NEED YOUR HELP!
Lobby99 is a nonprofit that depends on the support of our readers.
If you found this useful, could we ask you to chip in a dollar or three to help us provide even more like this? Thanks!
It's secure and takes under a minute.
Political calculations are involved
No Republicans in the House or Senate have expressed support for the current bills. One reason could be that Washington, D.C. residents are overwhelmingly Democratic. Should Washington D.C. become a state, it likely would add a Democratic vote to the House of Representatives and two Democratic senators.
In an interview with the Washington Post, Ohio Governor and former Rep. John Kasich candidly expressed to Associate Editorial Page Editor Jo-Ann Armao a political motivation for not supporting D.C. statehood...
A: You voted against statehood for D.C. when you were in Congress.
K: Yes.
...
A: What about voting rights in Congress, voting representatives?
K: Probably not. I don't know. I'd have to, I mean, to me, that's just, I just don't see that we really need that, okay? I don't know. I don't think so.
A: But you realize though that people in D.C. pay taxes, go to war and they have no vote in Congress.
K: Yeah.
A: How is that-
K: Well look, I am not - I don't - I am not, because you know what, what it really gets down to if you want to be honest is because they know that's just more votes in the Democratic Party. Thats what-
A: So if there were Republicans in the District, you would have a different position?
K: Yeah, okay, well look, they send me a bill, I'm president of the United States, I'll read your editorials.