Manchin opposition weakens DC statehood chances

[Leroy N. Soetoro]

https://www.vox.com/2021/5/1/22413869/joe-manchin-washington-dc-statehood-
democrat

The campaign to add Washington, DC, as the 51st state always faced low
odds in the Senate, but now the bill has its first Democratic detractor —
Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia.

In a radio interview with West Virginia’s MetroNews Talkline Friday,
Manchin threw cold water on the thus-far-unified Democratic effort to
approve DC statehood. Legislation to add the District of Columbia as the
51st state passed the House last week on a strictly party-line vote,
sending the bill to the Senate.

“If Congress wants to make DC a state, it should propose a constitutional
amendment,” Manchin said. “Let the people of America vote.”

In the 50-50 Senate, where any bill would need 60 votes to clear
procedural hurdles, the bill was likely on its way to death by filibuster
anyway. But the loss of Manchin — who has also vocally stood in the way of
Democrats’ plans to reform the filibuster and implement a $15 minimum
wage, and President Joe Biden’s federal spending and taxation plans —
stings for statehood advocates and progressives alike.

Currently, 46 Senate Democrats have come out in favor of the bill,
according to the Washington Post, and it has Biden’s support. Three have
yet to take a stance, though one, Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) previously
co-sponsored a DC statehood bill. And Manchin is the only Democrat in the
“no” column.

Republicans appear united in their opposition to the bill. In 2019, then-
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell called Democratic efforts to add DC
and Puerto Rico as states “full-bore socialism.”

Manchin argued that reports from the Justice Department under the Reagan
and Carter administrations demonstrate that DC must be added as a state by
constitutional amendment. He pointed to the 23rd Amendment, ratified in
1961, which permitted DC residents the right to vote in presidential
elections and granted it three electoral votes in the Electoral College,
as standing in the way of statehood via congressional action.

He went on to say he would not support unilateral congressional action on
the issue, and said he would “tell his friends” that the matter would end
up in the Supreme Court if they pursue a congressional path.

“Every legal scholar has told us that,” Manchin said. “So why not do it in
the right way and let the people see if they want to change?”

All existing 50 states were added to the union via an act of Congress.
Proponents of DC statehood, including Democratic Del. Eleanor Holmes
Norton, DC’s only representative — though nonvoting — in Congress, told
Politico in a statement that Congress did not need to repeal the 23rd
Amendment in order to make DC a state.

Norton also took a shot at Manchin in an interview with the Washington
Post, saying she had never counted on him for support, but instead was
counting on electing more Democrats in order to diminish his influence.

Stasha Rhodes, the president of DC statehood advocacy group 51 for 51,
framed the issue in a statement as one of racial justice, and pushed back
against Manchin’s logic.

“No member of the Senate should deny voting rights to 700,000 mostly Black
and Brown Washingtonians based on a flimsy understanding of the
Constitution and American history,” Rhodes said. “A DC statehood law is
clearly consistent with the Constitution and the 23rd Amendment.”

But despite the voting rights and racial justice arguments for statehood,
the debate surrounding it has become about partisan power — something that
Manchin surely knows. As Vox’s Jerusalem Demsas has reported:

Democrats’ narrow majority was able to pass statehood legislation when it
came to the House floor but now it goes to the Senate — where bills go to
die via filibuster.

Despite the myriad ways statehood would benefit DC residents, the
political debate has been defined by the reality that two more Democratic
senators would likely be added to the Senate if DC were to become the 51st
state. According to the Brookings Institution, since 2000, the Democratic
presidential nominee has captured, on average, over 89 percent of the vote
in Washington, DC.

In a statement to Vox, a spokesperson for Sen. Tom Carper (D-DE), the
Senate bill’s sponsor, said the 23rd Amendment was not an impediment to DC
statehood and that he remained optimistic about the bill’s chances,
despite the severe obstacles.

“Sen. Carper remains actively engaged with colleagues on both sides of the
aisle and is confident this can reach the finish line by the end of this
Congress,” his spokesperson said. “With a record amount of Senate co-
sponsors and support from the House and White House, Sen. Carper feels
that the stars are aligning to right this historic injustice.”

But without Manchin, let alone 10 Republicans, it looks like adding a 51st
star to the American flag will remain elusive.


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