Gov. Pedro Pierluisi: ‘Puerto Rico will be the first truly Hispanic state’

[Dill]

(03-14-2021, 12:57 PM)fredtoast Wrote: Here is basically how the argument breaks down.

We have 700K US citizens whose vote do not count in Congress.

Dems want to make those votes count (Added representatives to reflect added votes)

GOP wants to make sure the new votes are added without changing anything.  (No new added representatives.  Instead just dilute to value of the Maryland voters.

Fred, the bolded is how the argument "breaks down" for people outside the District and Maryland. 

They are the mostly concerned about how DC statehood would affect Congressional/national balance of power between the parties.

For DC and MDers, however, the primary issues are rather different. 

For DC, for sure, there are two issues: 1) substantive representation, and 2) control of their own budget and laws. That's why they wanted the representation in the first place. Giving them MD senators and a capitol in Annapolis does not accomplish that. 

They and MD might get a Representative--until the next re-apportionment adjusts the number of Representatives back to the 435 cap.

The national GOP is certainly against adding DC as a state. They've introduced two bills to block statehood.

But the people of MD are also concerned how retrocession would affect their politics--the state senators and representatives they'd have to add, etc.  In the last poll taken in 2016, 44% were against it. A slim majority are for DC statehood.

Retrocession is yet another distraction from D.C. statehood
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/letters-to-the-editor/retrocession-is-yet-another-distraction-from-dc-statehood/2020/07/08/b7752700-bfa5-11ea-8908-68a2b9eae9e0_story.html

Whenever D.C. statehood comes up, opponents trot out various distractions. For example, Rep. Greg Murphy (R-N.C.) wants the District to pay for changing U.S. flags to 51 stars. A pole tax no doubt.
Rep. Andy Harris (R-Md.) backs D.C. retrocession to Maryland. Retrocession has a patina of respectability. Advocates, however, never get to specifics, which would cause massive changes.

Accommodating the District’s more than 700,000 residents would require Maryland to add a slew of state senators and delegates. Regionally, the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority’s board would go from two seats each for the District, Maryland, Virginia and the federal government to who-knows-what.

Would the District’s laws go away? If so, when and how? Would Congress pay for Maryland gaining the District’s residents, vehicles, schools, bonds, etc.? If not, who would?

Finally, there is the District’s $16 billion budget. It spends its own money without Congress. Would it lose control to Annapolis?
The further you are from retrocession, the better it looks. Closer scrutiny shows its flaws