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Grothman Explains His ‘No’
Vote on DC Statehood With Specious Claims
On Saturday, April 24, 2021, Rep.
Grothman sent out a new constituent “newsletter” email.
Among other items, the email notes:
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That Grothman
voted 'no' on the Bill to grant statehood to the District of Columbia, in
part because the Constitution says that DC is to be a federal district. The
email fails to note that the Constitution says “the capital district” - not
specified as the District of Columbia - is to be “no more than 10 miles
square”, while DC currently has just over 68 square miles.
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The email
claims that with "all its government jobs, [DC’s] a recession-proof city,"
but fails to note that DC has a 7.8% unemployment rate - higher than the
national rate by 1.8%. Those government jobs are largely held by residents
of the states of Maryland and Virginia, not people living in the District
itself.
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The email
notes that DC has the 6th highest murder rate of US cities over 250,000
people, but fails to note that it used to be #1, and that dropping to 6th
shows clear improvement. Similarly, his email notes that DC has more
homeless individuals than 29 states, but fails to note that this is an
improvement, since it used to have more than 32 states (as recently as
2017).
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The email
claims that it's 'untrue that DC has no representation in Congress,' noting
the existence of DC's single delegate in the House, but fails to note that
that delegate is non-voting, and that the District has no Senators at all.
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The email
claims that making DC a state is purely a political move to give the
Democrats 2 more Senators; it fails to note that there are 2 Dakotas because
when the Dakota Territory was granted statehood, the Republicans were in
power and wanted 2 extra Senators, so they split it in half.
Grothman’s specious half-truths and
full-on nonsensical claims are an embarrassment.
Amy supports granting statehood to
the District of Columbia because its more than 700,000 residents, as taxpayers,
deserve full voting representation, in both houses of Congress. We fought a war
with Britain over taxation without representation, and should not be
perpetuating the very thing for which we sought independence.
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