- The democrat capitalof the United States,

is that where Washington DC is headed?

It is if the democrats get their way.

Today, the house votes onwhat's called DC statehood.

So what can republicans doto block this power grab,

and why does so much hingeon the senate filibuster?

Jenna Browder explains.

(air whooshes)

- Making Washington DCthe nation's 51st state

is a top legislativepriority for democrats.

H.R. 1 is expected to pass the house,

but getting it by the senatecould prove much tougher.

- We're Americans

if we fulfill allobligations of citizenship.

We should be treated equally,

and that's what statehood does.

- [Jenna] This coming fromone life-long DC resident,

den Democrats agreeincluding the White House,

this week throwing its fullsupport behind H.R. 51.

In a statement from the Officeof Management and Budget,

congress should provide for a swift

and orderly transition to statehood.

The same bill passed the house last year,

but fell flat in therepublican-controlled senate.

Even with democrats now in charge,

the same thing will likely happen,

because of the 60 vote filibuster.

- So I think you'regonna hear a lot of talk

within the next severalweeks about whether or not

the democratic members havethe votes to pass this bill

and if they can get the 50 votes,

whether they will bewilling or able to abolish

or alter the filibuster inorder to pass this legislation.

- [Jenna] Zack Smith with theHeritage Foundation testified

in last month's hearing.

He tells CBN News there'sa constitutional reason

the nation's Capitol is not a state.

- Framers envision that theseat of the federal government

would be independent from any state.

And there were reallytwo reasons behind that.

They wanted to ensure thatthe federal government

could have physicalcontrol over the Capitol

sufficiently to secure theofficials who worked there,

the buildings that are thereto house government operations,

and they also wanted tomake sure that no one state

had an outside influence on the operations

of the federal government.

- [Jenna] Republicans seethe effort as a power grab

House minority leader, Kevin McCarthy.

- It's unconstitutional.

It's no different thanpacking the Supreme Court.

The only reason the democrats are doing it

is to try to get more electoral votes

and more senators.

And why they're doing it when they are,

because they know they'regonna lose the majority.

It was never created or should be a state.

If there's anything it should do,

it should go back to Maryland.

- Since DC consistently supports

the democratic nominee for president.

statehood would tilt the balance of power

in the senate to democrats.

So much hinges on the senate filibuster

for this bill and others.

Right now, though, notenough senator support

getting rid of it, so 60 votes it is.

In Washington, Jenna Browder, CBN News.

- You have to go backto history and realize

that Hamilton and Jeffersonwere talking together,

and the thought was the capitalshould be in Philadelphia,

and yet the Southern statessaid that's too far away for us,

and the Northern statessaid we don't wanna go down

into Georgia or Alabama or North Carolina.

And so, they had a compromisebetween Alexander Hamilton

and Thomas Jefferson on where to put it,

and it was called theDistrict of Columbia.

And Washington was going to be a city

as the capitol of ournation in the district,

but it was never intended to be a state.

And this was a clear powergrab by the democrats

to overturn the historyand the Constitution

of the United States.

Well, CBN chief politicalanalyst, David Brody, is here

to talk about the democrat agenda.

David.

DC state is just one part

of a massive power grab by democrats.

They wanna get rid ofthe senate filibuster,

pack the Supreme Court,federalize elections.

What are the chancesthey'll make this happen?

- Well, let's start with this, Pat.

It's all about the senate filibuster.

You mentioned the senate filibuster.

Look, if democrats canchange the filibuster rule,

the legislative filibuster rule

that everything else we'retalking about, DC statehood,

this federal elections, H.R.1 we've heard so much about,

the Equality Act, gun control,packing the Supreme Court,

all of it becomes reality,but they've gotta change

the legislative filibuster first,

because that takes the threshold down

from 60 votes to only 50 votes,

and that's what Democrats wanna do.

And let's be clear, Pat.

That is exactly what democrats wanna do.

The only thing stopping themare two people, really one,

Senator Joe Manchin from West Virginia.

He's the one to watch.

He's the only one to watch.

Maybe Kyrsten Sinema from Arizona.

Those are the two that havehad issues with the filibuster,

but I can tell you from someof my sources on Capitol Hill,

they are indeed being pushed by democrats.

There is a full-on campaignto get Manchin and Sinema

to change their view onthe legislative filibuster,

saying now is the timeto get all of this done.

And the question is, why is now the time?

Well, there's a lot of reasonsfor it, but let's be honest.

Kevin McCarthy, in thatinterview that you saw with Jenna

that was in her piece,

I did talk to Kevin McCarthy yesterday,

and he believes on a scale of one to 10

that republicans will takeback the house in 2022.

So democrats know thatthey gotta get it done now,

or they're gonna be in big trouble.

- Is there a chance...

It looks like the peopleare really disgusted

with Washington.

Are there some vulnerable senators,

so that not only will the house switch,

but maybe the percentage might switch?

- Yeah, well, for sure.

As a matter of fact, thepolitical prognosticators,

people that do this for aliving, not just the pollsters,

forget the pollsters,

I think we're all donewith the pollsters, Pat,

but people that actually track these races

down on the ground say that the senate

clearly is up for grabsjust like the house.

And so, everything's up for grabs in 2022.

And I think democrats, thereason you're seeing so much

of this liberal push byBiden and the progressives

is not just because of2022, but they remember

that they're gonna goback to Merrick Garland.

Remember Merrick Garland wasn't brought up

as a Supreme Court nominee?

Then Amy Coney Barrett was rushed,

according to the democrats,in just a few weeks

or three or four weeks.

So, they're frustrated.

They're angry republicans.

They're angry at Mitch McConnellfor holding up legislation

when Republicans controlled the senate,

and they controlled the house.

And this is payback.

The problem with paybackis payback begets payback.

And we go down a very, verydangerous road in America

if it happens.

- Well, David, last question.

How does all this squarewith the president's pledge

to seek unity?

- Yeah, well, listen,

I'm not a Washington Post fact checker,

but if I was, I'd give it four Pinocchios.

I mean, are you kidding me?

What unity exactly?

There has been no unity.

They did budget reconciliation

on the trillion dollar stimulus bill.

They're about to do budget reconciliation

on the Jobs Act coming up.

Kevin McCarthy, like Isaid, I spoke to him.

I wanna play a quick littlesound bite of Kevin McCarthy

saying that he hasn't eventalked to Joe Biden yet.

Have a look, Pat.

- I've never spoken to president Biden

since he's become president.

So I could not judge, not onetime, nor has he called me,

or have I spoke to him.

Now I requested meetingsto talk about the border

more than a month ago andthe crisis that he created.

But, unfortunately, when the president

talks about bipartisanship,that doesn't what he means.

- Pat, on unity, it's all been words.

No action whatsoever from Biden.

- Thank you, David.