WASHINGTON – United States Senator Bill Hagerty (R-TN), a member of the Senate Rules & Administration Committee, today offered an amendment during the committee’s markup of the Democrats’ “For the Politicians Act”, to strike findings supportive of Washington, D.C. statehood and replace them with language finding that Washington, D.C. should not be a state because the Framers’ purposefully established it as a federal district not dependent upon any state, as reflected in the Constitution.
*Click the photo above or here to watch*
“The whole point of creating Washington, D.C. was to create a federal district that is not a state, so that the federal government was not dependent upon or beholden to a particular state. The Constitution establishes it as a federal district, which would have to be amended to accomplish statehood. Like the rest of this bill, this is a blatant power grab—an attempt grab two new Democrat senators,” Senator Hagerty said.
Click here to watch the full debate on Hagerty’s amendment. All Democrats on the committee voted in favor of D.C. statehood.