Rep. Tlaib Slams America for ‘Authoritarian System’ in Calling for DC Statehood: It Was ‘Implemented by a Bunch of Elites’

Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) complained during a Monday committee hearing that America’s “authoritarian system” played a role in preventing statehood for Washington, D.C.

“If you oppose D.C. statehood, you support taxation without representation,” Tlaib said during a session of the House Oversight Committee, which was holding a hearing on H.R. 51, a proposal that would make the nation’s capital a state. “You hear me? If you oppose D.C. statehood, you support taxation without representation.

Tlaib took the opportunity to take aim at the conservative Heritage Foundation — and tied it to “elites” who “thought it was OK to enslave people.”

“In opposing D.C. statehood … these representatives and their backers over at the Heritage Foundation — that’s right — are telling over 700,000 Americans to sit down, shut up, and enjoy this authoritarian system implemented by a bunch of elites who thought it was OK to enslave people for their selfish monetary gain hundreds of years ago,” she added.

Article I of the United States Constitution provided that the country’s capital would not become a state, meaning any effort to change the law would likely require a two-thirds vote by members of Congress. Presently, just 46 Senate Democrats appear to support the move. The exceptions include Arizona Sens. Kyrsten Sinema and Mark Kelly; West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin; and Independent Maine Sen. Angus King.

Watch above via CSPAN.