[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 21 (Thursday, March 5, 1998)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E310-E311]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


             UNITED STATES-PUERTO RICO POLITICAL STATUS ACT

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                        HON. SHEILA JACKSON-LEE

                                of texas

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, March 4, 1998

       The House in Committee of the Whole House on the State of 
     the Union had under consideration the bill (H.R. 856) to 
     provide a process leading to full self-government for Puerto 
     Rico:

  Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas. Mr. Chairman, I rise in support of H.R. 
856, the United States-Puerto Rico Political Status Act which presents 
to Puerto Rican voters three political status alternatives: statehood, 
commonwealth, independence.
  If the Commonwealth option obtains a majority of the votes, or if 
none of the three options obtain a majority, a referendum will be held 
in Puerto Rico every ten years until an option providing for full self-
government achieves a majority of the votes.

[[Page E311]]

  Congress granted American citizenship to the residents of Puerto Rico 
in 1917. This bill provides a congressionally recognized framework for 
the 3.8 million people of Puerto Rico to freely express their wishes 
regarding their options for full self-government for the first time in 
almost a century of U.S. Administration.
  Puerto Ricans have been the largest body of U.S. citizens which do 
not enjoy the privileges usually accorded to citizenship, including 
voting representation in Congress and the right to vote in Presidential 
elections.
  Puerto Ricans are the largest group of Hispanic citizens in the U.S. 
and have only a second class citizenship.
  H.R. 856 rectifies the problem of second class citizenship by 
empowering the people of Puerto Rico to become fully enfranchised, 
either outside of or wholly within the scope of the U.S. Constitution, 
through the exercise of their right of self-determination.
  More than 340,000 soldiers from Puerto Rico have served in the U.S. 
armed forces since 1917, and more than 8,000 Puerto Ricans have died 
fighting for America in the U.S. armed forces.
  H.R. 856 creates a constitutionally sound process to resolve the 
status of Puerto Rico.
  Inaction is costing the U.S. taxpayer, in that the 3.8 million U.S. 
citizens of Puerto Rico will continue to enjoy a free ride exemption 
from the Federal income taxes the rest of us pay.
  A vote against H.R. 856 will continue to deny the people of Puerto 
Rico the right of self-determination, the very same right which the 
U.S. so consistently and forcefully advocates in the rest of the world 
among its allies.

                          ____________________