GOP Senator Introduces Bill To Give D.C. To Maryland As Statehood Bill Heads To Senate


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Topline

Sen. Roger Marshall (R-Kan.) on Thursday introduced a bill to have the District of Columbia become a part of Maryland, a Republican alternative to statehood that polls suggest is deeply unpopular with residents of both D.C. and Maryland.

Key Facts

The bill would make the residential areas of D.C. part of Maryland, which originally gave the land that makes up the district to the federal government in 1790, while leaving the National Mall and federal buildings like the Capitol as the constitutionally mandated federal district.

The proposal is popular among Republicans in large part because it disarms district residents of their longstanding complaint of taxation without representation while depriving them of two senators – who would likely be Democrats – instead giving them a voting representative in the House.

The legislation is a companion bill to one introduced in the House by Rep. Dusty Johnson (R-S.D.), a champion of Maryland retrocession who, many commentators have noted, ironically represents a state with a population not much larger than D.C.

The bill’s introduction comes the same day the House voted along party lines to pass a bill turning the same residential areas of D.C. into the state of “Washington, Douglass Commonwealth,” which will likely get a vote in the Democrat-controlled Senate.

Marshall, in a statement, called the statehood bill an example of Democrats’ “political greediness and goal to alter the very fabric of our republic,” adding, “If the Democrats want D.C. statehood, make it part of Maryland.”

Crucial Quote

“Sounds good to me,” Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) told Forbes on Wednesday when asked about the Maryland retrocession idea. Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah), seen as a relative moderate in his caucus, also endorsed the idea in an interview with Forbes.

Big Number

44%. That’s the share of Maryland voters who said they oppose annexing D.C. in a Public Policy Polling survey in 2016, compared to 28% who said they support the idea and 28% who said they are not sure. A Washington Post/University of Maryland poll in 2019 found 57% of Maryland residents opposed the idea, while 51% said they support statehood.

Tangent

The Senate filibuster, which requires Democrats to win over 10 Republicans in order to pass most legislation, makes it all but certain the bill will fail to pass in the upper chamber.

What To Watch For

Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.) plans to bring in former Sen. Joe Lieberman, a Democrat turned independent who enjoys close friendships with some Senate Republicans, to make the case for statehood to both Senate Republicans and a handful of undecided Democrats. But Graham cast doubt on the efficacy of that strategy, calling Lieberman one of his “dearest friends” but stating he has “zero chance” of persuading him.



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