Sen. John Kennedy, Republican of Washington, said on Fox News “Your World” on Friday that the latest push to make Washington DC a state is “all about power, like everything else in Washington DC”
“Some say it would be unconstitutional,” Kennedy told host Neil Cavuto. “If you look at Article I of the Constitution, the idea of the founders was that there would be an independent district that was not subject to any state, not influenced by any state.
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“Another argument I heard is that the land for the District came from Maryland and Virginia. Virginia land has been returned, but if DC was no longer DC, DC would not own the land … Maryland did,” Kennedy said. . continued. “It would cost the District of Columbia a lot of money. I think Congress spends about $ 700 million a year to defray the District’s expenses.”
Kennedy also revealed that many of his colleagues had disapproved of Washington DC Mayor Muriel Bowser’s response to the protests and riots, which he called “serious riots,” following the death of George Floyd last month.
The House of Representatives voted Friday to make Washington DC the 51st state, a move applauded by Washingtonians and Democrats as a recognition of full citizenship that had been long overdue, while Republicans criticized the effort as a seizure of power by the Democratic Party.
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The vote was 232-180 and fell largely along the lines of the party. Rep. Collin Peterson, a Democrat from Minnesota, one of the House’s most conservative Democrats, was the only Democrat to oppose the bill, which is presumed dead on arrival in the Republican-led Senate and also opposes the President. Trump.
“She knows,” Kennedy said of Speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi, “that DC is very, very, very Democrat and that they would elect one seat in Congress and two seats in the Senate and that is what will be reduced. “
