The consequences of the violence on Wednesday, when the police lost control of the rebels who invaded the Capitol, renewed calls for Washington, DC, to become the 51st state.
“We need to put the state on the president’s table for the first 100 days of the 117th Congress,” Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser said on Thursday. “Congress must immediately transfer the command of the District of Columbia National Guard from the President of the United States and place it under the command and control of the District of Columbia.”
It took hours for the National Guard to be deployed while lawmakers, officials and reporters protected themselves from pro-Trump protesters who invaded the corridors of Congress that were encountering little resistance from fewer Capitol officials.
Under the law, the federal government controls the DC National Guard – meaning that Bowser had no say in the matter while watching his city be destroyed. Over the summer, during Black Lives Matter protests, President Trump promptly mobilized the National Guard and other federal protection services to contain peaceful protesters.
Democratic lawmakers in the House and Senate see Wednesday’s violent events as yet another reason to push for autonomy.
“The mayor should not depend on the president to send the National Guard to protect public security in DC, and DC should never be concerned that a president may take control of his police force and use it as he sees fit,” Eleanor Holmes Norton, DD.C., said.
During the summer, majority leader Steny Hoyer brought the state of DC to the House floor for a vote, where he passed the party lines for the first time in history. The Maryland congressman has long advocated representation for DC citizens, and after the Capitol has been under siege, he is renewing his promise to make it a priority for the 117th Congress.
“Wednesday’s events and the unprecedented attack on the Capitol building and the city further illustrate the critical need to grant a state to the District of Columbia,” Hoyer told NBC News in a statement. “I will work closely with Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton to bring the legislation to the floor at the beginning of the 117th Congress to grant DC residents state status.”
But the attack on Washington, which President-elect Joe Biden called domestic terrorism, has not changed the views of those who are against the creation of a state for political reasons. Republican Senator Tom Cotton used Twitter to criticize the movement, calling it “a terrible and unconstitutional idea before the violence of the crowd” and “still a terrible and unconstitutional idea today”.
Most Republicans say creating a state would guarantee two additional Democrats in the Senate, and Senate majority leaders, McConnell, refused to put the legislation on the Senate floor.
But in just a few weeks, it will no longer be up to the Senate Republicans. With newly elected Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock securing the Senate by Democrats on Tuesday, the state of DC has a real chance of becoming law.
The state has always depended on the Senate’s democratic control. Presumed majority leader Chuck Schumer, D-NY, has promised to put the proposal on the Senate floor for a vote in the past.
“It is past time to end the historic deprivation of civil rights of hundreds of thousands of American citizens and make DC a state,” Schumer said in a statement. “As one of my top priorities when it comes to voting rights and democracy reform, I will continue to work in the Senate to ensure statehood, full voting rights and full autonomy for DC in this Congress and beyond.”
And there are positive indications that the legislation would become law – Biden tweeted in June: “DC must be a state. Pass it on. “
Josh Burch, a lifelong Washington resident and founder of Neighbors United for DC Statehood, thinks his cause will finally see daylight in the Senate as a result of Georgia’s second rounds.
“I know that many district residents donated money, wrote postcards, made calls and sent text messages,” he said. “We felt that these two Senate contests were about our future too, not just the future of the people of Georgia. “
With both Congressional chambers and the White House under Democratic control, Burch says that now is the time for the creation of a state and for Democrats not to prioritize its approval would be a betrayal.
“It would be an epic moral failure and political idiocy. But more importantly, it would be a moral failure to turn our backs on them, when they have the majority. “
There are at least 46 supporters known today in the U.S. Senate, while Democrats Sinema, Manchin, Kelly and King have yet to disclose their positions.
While most Republicans in Congress are vehemently opposed to the idea, Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski has a unique perspective on the issue because she is from Alaska – an old territory that was granted a state in 1959.
“I’m probably one of the few who was actually born in a territory and in my life we fought for a state, it was something that was driven by residents and whether we’re talking about DC or Puerto Rico, as long as it’s driven by residents, I would attention, ”she told NBC News this summer, after the House passed the legislation.
In terms of politics, Burch emphasizes issues such as racial justice and police brutality, which emerged as key issues this summer after the assassination of George Floyd, would be a priority for Washington residents, as well as the need for a champion for climate change. .
“Locally, the district has some of the best climate change policies in its books from any jurisdiction in the country. So, would we have two more climate change policy champions in the U.S. Senate? I hope so.”
And what would a state mean to city residents?
“It would finally make us whole Americans. We are Americans with the asterisk. We are Americans only in name, but not necessarily in equal status, “said Burch.” And that would finally make us whole Americans. “