RELIABLE.
NONPARTISAN.
EMPOWERING.
NONPARTISAN.
EMPOWERING.
Candidate Finances
Did You Know?
How to Register to Vote
Lesson Plans: 2020 Election & Beyond
Differences in Conservative and Liberal Brains
The Electoral College: Top 3 Pros and Cons
Coronavirus: Timeline of Comments by Trump and Biden with Context')" href="https://www.procon.org/view.resource.php?resourceID=007115">Coronavirus: Timeline of Comments by Trump and Biden with Context
Election Day National Holiday: Top 3 Pros and Cons
Top Issues for Voters
US Political Parties
Presidential Election History
How to Become the US President
Impeachment Explainer
Order of Presidential Succession
|
Last updated on: 6/26/2020 12:04:06 PM PST
Should the District of Columbia Be Given Statehood?
The District of Columbia (Washington, DC) is a federal district under the jurisdiction of the United States Congress. The district has two Senators and one Representative in Congress who can introduce legislation but cannot vote on legislation. All local DC legislation must be approved by Congress. The 702,000 residents of DC pay the highest per-capita federal income taxes in the country but have no voting power to determine how that money is spent.
Proponents argue the residents of Washington, DC deserve to be represented like all other US citizens. Opponents argue that DC was never meant to be a state and a constitutional amendment would be required for statehood. The House voted in favor of DC statehood in a 232-180 vote on June 26, 2020, the first time either house has passed legislation on the issue. The Senate is likely to ignore the bill and President Trump has stated he would veto the bill if passed. Sources: |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Pro (Yes)
Pro
Interviewer: "Do you support DC becoming the 51st state?
Biden: "Absolutely. I have for the past 28 years." Source: 51 for 51, Twitter.com, Feb. 25, 2020 |
Con (No)
Now Con
"DC will never be a state. You mean District of Columbia, a state? Why? So we can have two more Democratic — Democrat senators and five more congressmen? No thank you. That’ll never happen...They want to do that so they pick up two automatic Democrat — you know it’s 100 percent Democrat, basically — so why would the Republicans ever do that? That’ll never happen unless we have some very, very stupid Republicans around that I don’t think you do. You understand that, right?... No, it’s not gonna happen. And how many House seats is it? Like four, three or four? Whatever it is. You’d have three or four more congressmen and two more senators, every single day of every single year. And it would never change. No, the Republicans would never do that.”
Source: Steven Nelson and Ebony Bowden, "Trump Says Washington, DC, Will Never Be a State--because of All the Democrats," nypost.com, May 5, 2020 [Editor's Note: Trump previously expressed a NOT CLEARLY PRO OR CON opinion on this question. Read Trump's former position on whether DC should be given statehood.] |
|
Not Clearly Pro or Con
"Yes and No. Currently Congress governs the District of Columbia, which is wrong. The people of D.C. should be free to govern themselves. However, the District should not be given representation in the House or Senate because it is a conflict of interest. Most residents of D.C. profit directly or indirectly from federal government largess."
Source: Communication from the Jorgensen campaign to ProCon.org on Aug. 26, 2020 |
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||
CITE THIS PAGE
Who is the author? |
||||||||||||||||||||
| SHARE |
|
READER FAVORITES
 TRANSLATE into 100+ Languages and Dialects |
