The House of Representatives approved a bill on Friday to give statehood to the federal capital Washington, a historic first hailed by Democrats but which should not go to the Republican Senate. Making Washington a State is “show respect for democracy“Said the Democratic President of the House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi. Although they pay taxes and serve in the military, “For more than two centuries, the people of Washington have been deprived of their full rights to participate in our democracy“, She denounced.
Approved by 232 votes to 180, with the only support of the Democrats, it is the first time in American history that such a text has been adopted by one of the chambers of the American Congress, and the first time since 1993 that a vote was held on the status of Washington. But this bill will certainly be rejected then in the Senate, where the Republicans, majority, are largely opposed to it. And even if approved, Donald Trump, for whom the Republicans are not enough “stupidTo adopt it, would certainly veto it.
Lack of representation
The Republican president alludes to the crucial political issue of this bill: planning to allocate two senators and a representative to the new state, it could change the dynamics of power in Congress. Nancy Pelosi and several elected Democrats wore for the occasion a black mask bearing the number 51, because Washington would become the 51st American state. “Congress faces two options: continue to exercise autocratic, undemocratic authority over the 705,000“City residents or”rise to the promises and ideals of this countryBy adopting the law, Eleanor Holmes Norton, the only representative of the federal capital in the House, had launched into the hemicycle. Having only observer status, she was unable to vote for the text.
A lack of representation which is at the heart of the debates, even written on Washington license plates with the mention “taxation without représentation“(Taxes without elected officials). When the United States was created in the 18th century, the founding fathers wished to establish the seat of the federal government outside the first thirteen states to avoid conflicts. The Constitution therefore provided for the creation of a “districtIn 1790, directly attached to the central power. It is because of this unique status that residents of “Washington DC“, is “le district of ColumbiaHave no elected officials who vote in Congress.
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