Bret Baier: Democrats' attempt to make Washington DC 51st state “not realistic” right now

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Bret Baier: Dem push for DC statehood 'not realistic'

'Special Report' anchor discusses why Democrats want to make DC the 51st state on 'The Story'

Admitting Washington D.C. to the Union as the 51st state is "not realistic" unless Senate Democrats are able to make "the filibuster go by the wayside," Fox News chief political anchor Bret Baier told "The Story" Thursday. 

"The argument for D.C. to be a state has been around for a long time. It was voted through in the House last June ... but fell short in the Senate," Baier explained. "There have been people in D.C. who say it is taxation without representation. [Congressional delegate] Eleanor Holmes Norton is a shadow congresswoman, but she doesn't have a vote on the floor, [though] she can be in committees. There are no senators represented in the Senate."

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., has claimed that denying the District of Columbia statehood is "unjust, unequal and undemocratic," while Rep. Mondaire Jones, D-N.Y., called opposition to the idea "racist." On the Republican side, Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, called the move a "pure power grab" by Democrats.

"Republicans say, on substance, that's what the Founders wanted ... to have this place that was not a state to be the center of government," Baier added. "They believe this is all about trying to keep hold of power for Democrats that have a slim hold right now."

HOUSE PASSES BILL TO MAKE WASHINGTON DC THE 51ST STATE

Host Martha MacCallum noted the push was a consequence of Donald Trump losing the 2020 presidential election: "At that point [prior to November] all of those things seemed far away and radical, frankly. We're watching them tick off that list, or attempt to, one at a time."

The "Special Report" anchor maintained he thought the legislation would again die in the Senate.

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"This is the first in a series of bills that the House is going to move, including H.R. 1, to kind of bombard [Sen. Joe] Manchin, {D-W. Va.] and [Sen. Kyrsten] Sinema [D-Ariz.] and anybody who’s preventing the filibuster from going by the wayside [and] say 'you're not giving representation' to the point that you wear them down and somehow, someway they relent on some big bill. 

"I don't think it's going to happen, but I think that's the strategy."