WASHINGTON – A long-shot bid to pass legislation that would make the District of Columbia the nation’s 51st state got a little longer on Friday.
Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia said that he opposes unilateral action by Congress to make the nation’s capital a state and that he believes it needs to be done through a constitutional amendment.
He said prior Republican and Democratic administrations thought the same thing. “They all came to the same conclusion. If Congress wants to make D.C.
a state, it should propose a constitutional amendment,” Manchin said in an interview with the West Virginia MetroNews radio network. “It should propose a constitutional amendment and let the people of America vote.” Earlier this month, the House