Shari Della Penna
  • Home
  • About
    • My family
    • My work
    • My favorites
    • FAQ's
  • Contact
  • Blog

"Small acts of kindness can change and humanise our world."
   Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks 1948-2020
   ​Chief Rabbi of Great Britain, 1991-2020
                         Author, Advocate, Advisor

A Capitol Idea

5/4/2021

0 Comments

 
    The year 1933 was different. [Muriel’s] father, like so many others, had lost his job.
                                   .   .   .
    It would be impossible to buy all the food needed for their Passover Seder.
                                   .   .   .
Muriel started walking quicker than she had before. She ignored the Washington Monument leaning in the fading sunlight. She rushed past the White House without a second glance. Gradually the stately buildings began to recede.
    When she got to her neighborhood, her stomach grumbled as she smelled the delicious food from all the other Seders.
                                             from The Passover Guest
                                                           by Susan Kusel
                                                illustrated by Sean Rubin
  (adapted from the story “Kunstn-makher” by Isaac Leib Peretz)
                                                      Holiday House, 2021

    Alaska and Hawaii both achieved statehood in 1959. Alaska on January 3, and Hawaii on August 21. In preparation for their admittance to the Union, a high school teacher in Lancaster, Ohio, gave his students an assignment: Design an American flag to accommodate 50 states. It was a math problem for Bob Heft. He successfully arranged the 50 stars in nine horizontal rows alternating six and five stars in each row. He kept the 13 stripes and earned a B- due to “lack of originality.” Bob wrote to his congressman who convinced the government to adopt the design from over 1,000 that were submitted. His teacher changed Bob’s grade to A and Bob Heft’s 50-star flag went into production on July 4, 1960.
    At the time of his death in 2009, Bob is thought to have designed a 51-star flag, too. Let’s hear it for Puerto Rico! and Guam!
    That’s what I wrote in a post I called “You’re a Grand Old Flag.” It appeared on July 2, 2019. What was I thinking? I forgot to include Washington DC. 
    The controversy for or against DC statehood is long and heated.
    statehood.dc.gov  is admittedly pro-statehood, but the information is accurate. Here’s what I found under the “Why Statehood” tab.
    “Like [people] in all 50 states, DC residents pay federal taxes, serve in the military and on juries, start businesses and families, and contribute to our national economy. In fact, Washington’s residents pay more taxes than residents in 22 states and pay more per capita to the federal government than any state—yet they have no votes in Congress.
    “DC elects a non-voting Delegate to the US House of Representatives who can draft legislation but cannot vote [in a meaningful way]. The current Delegate for DC is Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton [who has served since January, 1991]. 
    “DC has 712,000 residents, more than Vermont and Wyoming and comparable” with some others including Delaware and Alaska.
    Size is not an issue. The Constitution (Article 1. Section 8) provides an area not to exceed 10 square miles to accommodate the Federal District as the “Seat of the Government of the United States.” The proposed National Capital Service Area would be two square miles and include federal buildings, such as the White House, Capitol, Supreme Court, and the National Mall. Precedent was set in 1846, when an area west of the Potomac River was returned to Virginia. The rest of what now is Washington, District of Columbia would become Washington, Douglass Commonwealth. 
    By becoming a state, DC would lose its mayor but gain a governor. Two Senators would watch out for their constituents’ needs and wants, and the population would have at least one Representative. These would all be voting members of the US Congress, unlike Delegate Norton, who can vote on the House floor, but not if her vote would be decisive. 
    Since the Twenty-Third Amendment was ratified on March 29, 1961, residents of Washington DC have been allowed to vote for President and Vice President. The sticky wicket here is a provision in the Amendment. Electors to the Electoral College are chosen from the District. One solution: Congress repeals the Twenty-Third Amendment. Then Electors would be chosen from the new State and no Electors would be chosen from DC. 
    Another is to admit the new state with a Constitutional Amendment of its own, a cumbersome and lengthy process which many Republicans favor. Congress has the authority to admit states into the Union. None of the 37 states since the original Thirteen Colonies has been admitted by a Constitutional Amendment.
    Here’s just a little more. In 2016, a referendum held in the District to make DC the 51st state was approved by 78% of the voters. 
    Delegate Holmes introduced H.R.51 - Washington, D.C. Admission Act last year. It passed (232-180) in the House of Representatives, was placed on the Senate’s calendar, but not voted on. This year she introduced H.R.51 - Washington, D.C. Admission Act again. This time it passed (216-208) in the House, on April 22, 2021. Its fate rests with the Senators, who now hold the slimmest possible Democratic margin. The Senate may or may not bring it up for discussion and vote. 
    Here’s the rest of the story. DC is historically overwhelmingly a Democratic stronghold. Why would any Republican worth his/her/their salt agree to add a Representative to the House, and two, count them, two Senators? All most probably would be Democrats. 
    In the Senate, Tom Carper (D-DE) has introduced a similar bill encouraging statehood. He has 44 co-sponsors, the most ever, but still short of the 51 needed for a simple majority. 
    So it comes to Party Politics, as usual. The residents of DC are disenfranchised. Granting statehood would most assuredly skew the Senate toward the Democratic Party.
    I looked hard for arguments against statehood and could only find Republicans stating the obvious. https://congressionaldigest.com/pros-cons-of-d-c-statehood/ 
    In 2020, when the Admission Act passed out of the House, Mitch McConnell said he would not take up the measure in the Senate. This year, 2021, he’s not in charge.
                                          -—stay curious! (and speak up) 
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

         I'm a children's writer and poet intent on observing the world and nurturing those I find in my small space .

    Archives

    June 2025
    May 2025
    April 2025
    March 2025
    February 2025
    January 2025
    December 2024
    November 2024
    October 2024
    September 2024
    August 2024
    July 2024
    June 2024
    May 2024
    April 2024
    March 2024
    February 2024
    January 2024
    December 2023
    November 2023
    October 2023
    September 2023
    August 2023
    July 2023
    June 2023
    May 2023
    April 2023
    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015

    RSS Feed

Proudly powered by Weebly