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ABC NewsNews HomeUS House votes to make Washington DC a state but a Senate battle loomsShareShare articleUS House votes to make Washington DC a state but a Senate battle looms

• Topic:Constitution

Fri 23 Apr 2021Friday 23 April 2021Fri 23 Apr 2021 at 5:31am

abc.net.au/news/washington-dc-statehood-bill-house-democrats-gop/100090876Link copiedShareShare article

The White House says United States President Joe Biden will advocate for the passing of a bill to make the District of Columbia a state.

Key points:

• The proposed new state would be called Washington, Douglass Commonwealth, instead of Washington, District of Columbia

• The one other time this bill passed the House, it ultimately died in a Republican-controlled Senate

• The bill doesn't mention changes to the national flag but there are strong indications the flag would change

This comes after the House of Representatives approved a bill on Thursday to make the nation's capital the 51st state.

Approval came by a 216-208 vote along strict party lines. Republicans oppose the idea given that the new state would be overwhelmingly Democratic — and the proposal faces a far tougher road in the Senate, where even full Democratic support isn't guaranteed.

The legislation proposes creating a 51st state with one representative and two Senators, while a tiny sliver of land including the White House, the US Capitol and the National Mall would remain as a federal district.

Instead of the District of Columbia, the new state would be known as Washington, Douglass Commonwealth — named after famed abolitionist Frederick Douglass, who lived in Washington from 1877 until his death in 1895.

An identical statehood bill passed the House in 2020, but died in the then-Republican-controlled Senate.

Now, with the 2020 elections leaving Democrats controlling both chambers of Congress and the White House, Republican senators may resort to a filibuster to stymie the statehood bill.

The Senate is split 50/50 with Vice-President Kamala Harris as the tie-breaker. But it takes 60 Senators to break a concerted filibuster attempt. Senate Democrats could vote to tweak the filibuster rules and slip the statehood issue through a loophole — but that would require total unity and some moderate Democrats have expressed opposition to that strategy.

What will this mean?

Washington DC, as the seat of government, already gets three Electoral College votes in the presidential election thanks to the 23rd Amendment to the US Constitution, which extended voting rights to District residents in 1961, Bloomberg reports. As a district, it currently has no representation in Congress.

Were it to be granted statehood, it would then have two US Senators, like every other state, and one House representative, based on its population.

A state's Electoral College votes are determined by adding its number of House seats to its two Senate seats, according to NPR, which means it would still have three Electoral College votes.

If it is made the 51st state, another thing that may change is the American flag, which currently has 50 stars, one for each state. 

While the bill doesn't mention anything about changes to the flag, The Washington Post reported that DC officials unveiled a new design with 51 stars ahead of a statehood hearing in 2019.

In June last year, Forbes reported Republicans proposed an amendment to the bill that would force Washington DC, if made a state, to "single-handedly pay for any expense relating to, allowing for and establishing a new state", including "official memorabilia and any changes to the national flag."

Reuters/ABC

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