[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 15 (Wednesday, February 25, 1998)]
[House]
[Page H584]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




             UNITED STATES-PUERTO RICO POLITICAL STATUS ACT

  (Mr. ROMERO-BARCELO asked and was given permission to address the 
House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. ROMERO-BARCELO. Madam Speaker, a recent caller to my office 
wanted to know who is the President of Puerto Rico. Of course, the 
answer was Bill Clinton, and there was a stunned silence as the caller 
digested this information. They still were not sure, so they asked the 
question a different way. Does Puerto Rico not have a President? Yes, 
we do, my staffer clarified. Puerto Rico is part of the United States.
  Despite a 100-year relationship, many people do not realize that 
Puerto Ricans are U.S. citizens. Despite many privileges and 
responsibilities that we as American citizens share with our 
counterparts in every State, Puerto Ricans do not share some 
fundamental political and citizenship rights. We can say that Puerto 
Ricans were granted a second-class citizenship.
  The U.S. citizens in Puerto Rico serve and die in wars defending 
democracy and other people's right to vote in other nations, but they 
cannot vote to elect their Commander in Chief. Puerto Ricans do not 
have a voting representative in either the House of Representatives or 
the Senate, thus we have no input in the American political process. We 
are equal in death and war, but unequal in life and peace.
  Congress has the opportunity to redress this situation by voting for 
Puerto Rico's self-determination bill, H.R. 856, the United States-
Puerto Rico Political Status Act. Let us put an end to the 
disenfranchisement of the U.S. citizens in Puerto Rico and support H.R. 
856.

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