WASHINGTON, DC - JULY 09: Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) answers questions at the U.S. Capitol on July 09, 2019 in Washington, DC. Senate Majority Leaders Chuck Schumer answered a range of questions during the press conference including queries on recent court cases involving the Affordable Care Act. (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)
Sen. Joe Manchin (D-West Virginia) said in an interview Friday that he does not support the Washington, D.C. statehood bill, the first Democratic senator to oppose the House-passed bill.
“If Congress wants to make D.C. a state, it should propose a constitutional amendment,” Manchin said in an interview. “It should propose a constitutional amendment and let the people of America vote.”
Manchin, the key Senate swing vote in the 50-50 Senate, has emerged as one of the most powerful people in Washington since the election.
He argued that D.C. statehood would require a constitutional amendment, citing the 23rd Amendment, which granted D.C. residents the right to vote in presidential elections and gave three electoral votes in the Electoral College, as an obstacle in the way of statehood.
Subscribe to our free weekly newsletter!
A week of political news in your in-box.
We find the news you need to know, so you don't have to.
Some have speculated that Manchin, a moderate Democrat, made his move to flex his muscle in Congress.
Following the report, Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.), argued that Congress could grant D.C. statehood without having to repeal the 23rd Amendment.
“No new state was admitted by constitutional amendment,” Norton said in a statement. “All 37 new states were admitted by Congress, and there has never been a successful constitutional challenge to the admission of a state.”
Norton had also said on Friday she had never counted on Manchin for his support, but instead was looking to diminish his influence in Congress.
Without Manchin’s vote, for now, D.C. statehood is unlikely to be approved this term.
Former Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel spoke to the Economic Club of Chicago last Monday, discussing…
Top Senate Democrat Chuck Schumer postponed public events promoting his new book, Antisemitism in America:…
President Donald Trump ordered the release of billions of gallons of water in California's Central Valley in…
On Monday, President Donald Trump made the unfounded claim that the pre-emptive pardons granted by former President Joe…
Former Trump adviser Steve Bannon claimed he is not considering a presidential run, despite speculation growing among…
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/3ZUtrFbEfUU The United States deported more than 200 alleged members of a Venezuelan gang to…