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Just days before D.C. residents head to the polls in 2016's final presidential primary, Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Bernie Sanders highlighted his support for District of Columbia statehood.
"I think it is morally wrong for American citizens who pay federal taxes, fight in our wars and live in our country to be denied the basic right to full congressional representation," Sanders said in a statement Saturday.
Sanders also mentioned support for the cause in an off-hand remark at a campaign rally in the nation's capital on Thursday.
CNN Politics app
"I hope that the next time I'm back we're going to be talking about the state of Washington, D.C.," Sanders said.
originally posted by: AlaskanDad
In a brilliant move Sen Sanders calls for statehood for Washington DC just before the election. There has long been problems of DC not having any states rights, yet the citizens of DC pay their taxes and have no federal representation. Sen Sanders is proposing that DC becomes a state is a move that is past due!
3 days before D.C. primary, Sanders calls for statehood
Just days before D.C. residents head to the polls in 2016's final presidential primary, Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Bernie Sanders highlighted his support for District of Columbia statehood.
"I think it is morally wrong for American citizens who pay federal taxes, fight in our wars and live in our country to be denied the basic right to full congressional representation," Sanders said in a statement Saturday.
Sanders also mentioned support for the cause in an off-hand remark at a campaign rally in the nation's capital on Thursday.
CNN Politics app
"I hope that the next time I'm back we're going to be talking about the state of Washington, D.C.," Sanders said.
source
Sanders also lent support for D.C. statehood in June 2015 when he helped co-sponsor legislation on the issue, The Hill reported.
Efforts to make D.C. a state have been a large part of D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser's platform while in office. On Tuesday, Bowser proposed adding the issue to the Democratic National Committee's platform, according to NBC Washington.
originally posted by: NewzNose
a reply to: AlaskanDad
There is a reason DC isn't a state. It is against the constitution for Washington, DC as to BE in any state, except the state of illusion. To become a state, the Constitution we pretend is in force, would need changed.
Then there is this: No state can ever reign over the Federal government, nor can any state toss DC from their perch.
Legislative proposals to make D.C. a state violate theConstitution in at least two ways.
Article I, Section 8 grants Congress the right to “exercise exclusive Legislation” over the “District” that is “the Seat of the Government of the United States.”
Congress cannot simply change the “Seat of the Government” into a state or delegate its power over the District to the government of a new state.
It took a constitutional amendment to give D.C. residents the ability to vote for president because they are not a state and Congress could not make them a state.
Ratified in 1961, the 23rd Amendment recognizes Congress’s authority to oversee the manner in which the District appoints electors to the Electoral College.
Congress cannot single-handedly eliminate the power this amendment grants only to Congress.
Article I would need to be amended, and the 23rd Amendment would need to be repealed for legislative efforts to beconstitutional.
In Adams v. Clinton (2000), the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals found that legislative efforts to allow for voting representation in Congress were unconstitutional.
The three judge panel made it clear that the Constitution would need to be amended in order for such changes to take place within the law.