[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 1 (Tuesday, January 25, 1994)]
[Senate]
[Page S]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: January 25, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
                    CONGRESS CAN HELP END STALEMATE

-Mr. SIMON. Mr. President, when he served as Governor of Puerto 
Rico, I had the opportunity to get acquainted with Carlos Romero-
Barcelo.
  Now he is the Resident Commissioner in Congress, better known as a 
nonvoting Member of Congress from Puerto Rico.
  He continues to be loaded with good sense and good leadership skills.
  Recently he had an article in Roll Call commenting on the Puerto 
Rican plebiscite and what we ought to do.
  In his article, he mentions a bill introduced by Congressman Don 
Young, which I have not had a chance to look at yet.
  But, we ought to be listening to Carlos Romero-Barcelo, as well as 
the able, new Governor of Puerto Rico, Pedro Rossello.
  I ask that Carlos Romero-Barcelo's article from Roll Call be placed 
in the Record at this point, and I urge my colleagues who have not read 
it to do so.

                     [From Roll Call, Jan. 6, 1994]

          Congress Can Help End Puerto Rico's Status Stalemate

                       (By Carlos Romero-Barelo)

       For the first time in 26 years, the US citizens of Puerto 
     Rico have voted in a political status plebiscite to express a 
     preference for commonwealth, statehood, or independence.
       In a vote that surprised many, none of the three options 
     emerged from the Nov. 14 plebiscite with a majority. 
     ``Commonwealth'' garnered 48.6 percent, ``statehood'' 43.6 
     percent, and ``independence'' 4.4 percent.
       The plebiscite was held to fulfill a 1992 campaign promise 
     made by those of us in the pro-statehood New Progressive 
     Party who wanted to offer the people of Puerto Rico a way out 
     of our colonial status: a colonial relationship in which 3.6 
     million US citizens do not have the right to vote in a 
     presidential election and are denied voting representation in 
     Congress as well as full benefits in some of the most 
     important federal programs.
       Commonwealth supporters campaigned on the theme that Puerto 
     Rico's residents currently enjoy ``the best of both worlds.'' 
     With this spin, they sought to remind voters that they do not 
     pay federal income taxes and in many cases are employed by 
     corporations that until this year were exempt from federal 
     corporate taxation.
       As Puerto Rico's sole representative in Congress, every day 
     when I walk into the House chamber I live the frustration of 
     disenfranchisement. The stalemate produced by the lack of 
     majority support for any one particular status option seems 
     to have heightened the interest of a number of Members in 
     finding out just what happened. Many have asked me what can 
     be done in order to help Puerto Rico make a final decision on 
     its political status and to end the present colonial 
     relationship.
       With commonwealth's plurality margin and the fact that 
     statehood was a very close second, it's clear that no one is 
     being fooled into thinking that commonwealth won another 
     mandate. While in most jurisdictions of the US general 
     elections can be won by a plurality of votes, when it comes 
     to effecting a change of status, everyone understands that 
     winning by a majority is essential.
       For the first time since the Commonwealth's inception in 
     1952, the people of Puerto Rico are subject to the 
     sovereignty of Congress without the expressed consent of the 
     majority of Puerto Ricans. For both the people of Puerto Rico 
     and the United States, which exercises sovereignty over 
     Puerto Rico, such a situation is untenable. As sovereign, the 
     United States has an obligation to make sure that Puerto Rico 
     achieves a political status that has the consent of the 
     majority.
       There's more than one way to resolve the current stalemate. 
     Perhaps the best way to begin would be making a careful 
     examination of the definition of commonwealth that was 
     presented on the plebiscite ballot.
       The Constitution and history indicate that such a 
     commonwealth is neither compatible with the US constitutional 
     system nor financially viable. And if that is indeed the 
     case, Congress has an obligation to speak out clearly so that 
     a future plebiscite will not be vitiated, as the latest one 
     was, by false and impossible promises by commonwealth 
     leaders.
       In the coming months, Congress will have an opportunity to 
     review the plebiscite's results, beginning with an upcoming 
     hearing by the House Natural Resources insular and 
     international affairs subcommittee to examine the viability 
     of implementing the status called for in the commonwealth 
     definition.
       But there is another effort that is also aimed at breaking 
     the status gridlock: a bill offered by Rep. Don Young (R-
     Alaska) that provides a mechanism for the unincorporated 
     territories of the United States to achieve incorporation.
       As the ranking member of the Natural Resources panel, Young 
     has set forth a plan that formalizes a serious intention to 
     assure the US puts an end to colonial relationships with the 
     remaining territories (Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, 
     American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands) before 
     the United Nations ``Decade of Decolonization'' comes to an 
     end.
       The Young bill addresses the 95 percent of the Puerto Rican 
     electorate that supports the achievement of three major goals 
     for Puerto Rico: irrevocable, permanent union with the US, 
     irrevocable and guaranteed US citizenship; and equal 
     treatment with the states in all federal programs. But the 
     achievement of each of these guarantees has a price: the 
     payment of federal income taxes.
       Statehood advocates, like myself, sought to explain during 
     the plebiscite campaign that the responsibility to pay 
     federal income taxes will be a benefit, and not a burden, for 
     many low-income residents of Puerto Rico. This is because 
     many of our taxpayers would qualify for the Earned Income 
     credit for low-income wage earners.
       Given the filing in the House of the Young bill, along with 
     the initiation of a Congressional examination of Commonwealth 
     status, we anticipate that the stalemate will not continue 
     indefinitely.
       I am convinced that once the people of Puerto Rico clearly 
     understand the options, they will vote decisively for 
     equality, that is, to be come the 51st state.

                          ____________________