[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 80 (Tuesday, June 10, 1997)]
[House]
[Pages H3579-H3580]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




        COLONIAL RELATIONSHIP WITH PUERTO RICO IS UNSUSTAINABLE

  Mr. ROMERO-BARCELO. Mr. Speaker, as Puerto Rico's sole Representative 
in the U.S. Congress, I rise today in strong support of H.R. 856, the 
United States Puerto Rico Status Act.
  Already 856 is a truly historic piece of legislation that will allow 
the 3.8 million U.S. citizens' residing in Puerto Rico to exercise 
their inalienable right to self-determination and to resolve once and 
for all their 100-year-old colonial dilemma.
  In order to understand the magnitude of this very important issue, we 
have to put matters in historical perspective. Puerto Rico became a 
territory of the United States in 1898 pursuant to the Treaty of Paris 
following the Spanish-American War. U.S. citizenship was extended to 
Puerto Ricans in 1917 under the Jones Act.
  Then, in 1950, the U.S. Congress passed the Puerto Rico Federal 
Relations Act which authorized Puerto Rico to establish a local self-
government in the image of State governments. The intent was to create 
a provisional form of local self-rule until the status issue could be 
resolved. Puerto Rico would remain an unincorporated territory of the 
United States subject to the authority and plenary powers of Congress 
under the territorial clause of the Constitution.
  Puerto Rico and the United States are immersed in a colonial 
relationship that clearly contradicts the most basic tenets of 
democracy. One in which Puerto Rico's economic, social and political 
affairs are, to a large degree, controlled and influenced by a 
government over which we exercise no control and in which we do not 
participate fully. A relationship that, ironic as it may seem, will not 
even allow me to vote in favor of this historic bill on final passage 
when it reaches the floor, although I represent 3.8 million citizens 
residing in Puerto Rico.
  Fellow Members, this relationship is no longer in the best interests 
of the Nation and the constituents that we represent here in Congress, 
and it certainly and clearly is not in the best interests of the 3.8 
million citizens of Puerto Rico.
  Congress not only has the power but also the moral obligation to put 
an end to the disenfranchisement of the 3.8 million U.S. citizens 
residing in Puerto Rico. H.R. 856, with its broad bipartisan support of 
nearly 90 cosponsors, including the gentleman from Georgia, Speaker 
Newt Gingrich, and the gentleman from Missouri Mr. Gephardt, clearly 
evidences that this is not a Republican or a Democratic issue. This is 
not a liberal or a conservative issue. This is not a majority or 
minority issue. The issue here is whether the United States, as a 
nation and as an example and inspiration of democracy throughout the 
world, can continue to deny equality and maintain 3.8 million of its 
own citizens disenfranchised.
  After 100 years, our Nation has finally begun to recognize that its 
colonial relationship with Puerto Rico is unsustainable. On June 6, 
1997, the Washington Post published an editorial entitled ``An 
Obligation of Equality'' that evidences the growing concern nationwide 
regarding the disenfranchisement of the U.S. citizens of Puerto Rico.
  In addressing Congress' long overdue role in this issue, the 
editorial mentioned a referendum next year giving the territory's 
nearly 4 million residents a once and for all choice over its 
relationship with the United States. The key moment came a few weeks 
ago when the House Committee on Resources approved 44 to 1 a bill from 
the gentleman from Alaska, Don Young, chairman of the committee, 
allowing Puerto Ricans to decide the future of their island. The old 
question is being brought to a new boil by the approach of the 
centennial of the Spanish-American War.
  The gentleman from Alaska said in May when his bill was passed in the 
committee:

       It is time for Congress to permit democracy to fully 
     develop in Puerto Rico, either as a separate sovereign 
     republic or as a State, if a majority of the people are no 
     longer content to continue the existing commonwealth 
     structure for local self-government.

  Its supporters tried hard in committee to sweeten the defense of 
commonwealth that would be put to referendum. For now, anyway, the 
island's statehood party is on a roll.

[[Page H3580]]

  For Americans, but wait a minute. Puerto Ricans are already 
Americans. The issue for all of us is that they are citizens without 
political rights, including a vote in Congress. This is the anomaly the 
proposed referendum system proposed to remedy. Whatever the Puerto 
Rican choice, we continental Americans have an obligation of equality 
to our fellow citizens on the island.
  And that is the end of testimony from an editorial in the Washington 
Post.
  H.R. 856 is the most comprehensive measure affecting self-
determination of a U.S. territory since the Alaska and Hawaii Admission 
Acts of the late 1950's.
  I cannot emphasize the importance of this bill not only for the 3.8 
million U.S. citizens of Puerto Rico but for the Nation as a whole. The 
time has come to empower the people by giving them clear choices which 
they understand and which are truly decolonizing so we can reveal the 
people of Puerto Rico's true desire through a legitimate act of self-
determination.
  Let us comply with the call history is making upon us. Let us give 
our fellow citizens an opportunity in the name of freedom.
  Mr. Speaker, I include for the Record the editorial from the 
Washington Post to which I referred.

                [From the Washington Post, June 6, 1997]

                       An Obligation of Equality

       Americans don't have long to get accustomed to the 
     possibility that they may soon be considering admitting 
     Puerto Rico as the 51st state. This outcome arises from the 
     fact that, largely unattended, Congress is heading toward 
     organizing a referendum next year giving the territory's 
     nearly 4 million residents a ``once and for all'' choice of 
     its relationship to the United States. The key moment came a 
     few week ago, when the House Resources Committee approved 44 
     to 1 a bill from Chairman Don Young (R-Alaska) allowing 
     Puerto Ricans to decide the future of their island. This old 
     question is being brought to a new boil by the approach of 
     the centennial of the Spanish-American War, in which the 
     United States acquired bits of global empire. To many people, 
     100 years of American sovereignty over a territory denied 
     full rights is enough.
       The proposed referendum offers voters a choice among 
     statehood, independence and the existing ``commonwealth.'' 
     Commonwealth, however, enters the contest under a double 
     burden. It has been tried over the decades and found wanting 
     by many, and it is now widely seen as anachronistically 
     ``colonial,'' even though it was a status voluntarily chosen 
     and repeatedly affirmed. Chairman Young said in May, when his 
     bill was passed in committee: ``It is time for Congress to 
     permit democracy to fully develop in Puerto Rico, either as a 
     separate sovereign republic or as a state if a majority of 
     the people are no longer content to continue the existing 
     commonwealth structure for local self-government.'' Its 
     supporters tried hard in committee to sweeten the definition 
     of commonwealth that would be put to referendum. They failed. 
     For now, anyway, the island's statehood party is on a roll.
       For Puerto Ricans, the status question bears deeply on 
     identity as well as practical benefit. Closely related is the 
     issue of language; the committee declared that English--a 
     minority language in Puerto Rico--shall apply ``to the same 
     extent as Federal law requires throughout the United 
     States.'' Tough issues of taxes and benefits must also be 
     calculated.
       For Americans. . . . But wait a minute. Puerto Ricans are 
     already Americans. The issue for all of us is that they are 
     citizens without full political rights, including a vote in 
     Congress. This is the anomaly the proposed referendum is 
     meant to remedy. Whatever the Puerto Rican choice, we 
     continental Americans have an obligation to equality to our 
     fellow citizens on the island.

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