[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 197 (Thursday, November 19, 2020)]
[House]
[Pages H5936-H5937]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




             HONORING THE WILL OF THE PEOPLE OF PUERTO RICO

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from 
Puerto Rico (Miss Gonzalez-Colon) for 5 minutes.
  Miss GONZALEZ-COLON of Puerto Rico. Mr. Speaker, on November 3, 
Puerto Rican voters made a clear choice to become a permanent part of 
this Union, to become a State in equal footing and equal responsibility 
to the 50 States.
  As it was done in Alaska and Hawaii, voters were asked a 
straightforward question: ``Should Puerto Rico be admitted as a State 
of the Union?'' And, yes, an absolute majority voted ``yes.'' Statehood 
gained more votes than any candidate or party ticket on the island. I 
was the most voted candidate islandwide, and statehood still received 
well over 100,000 more votes.
  The people of Puerto Rico have repeatedly voted to end territorial 
status. In 2012, voters answered ``no'' to the question on continuing 
the territorial status on the island, and in all votes since then, the 
majority of ballots for change has favored statehood.
  Mr. Speaker, the people of Puerto Rico have democratically chosen 
what their future should be. What is Congress waiting for?

  It is our duty to respect the will of the people of Puerto Rico. This 
is a direct mandate to move to statehood, and it is Congress' 
responsibility to act and do it. Keeping the current condition cannot 
be justified by any means. There are a lot of assumptions and false 
claims being made by both sides of the aisle on the issue of Puerto 
Rico's statehood--claims that are mistaken and only try to invalidate 
the will of the people.
  The American citizens in Alaska and Hawaii were not met with 
proposals to try some other different solution or meet some special 
precondition, so why should we?
  Congress needs to respond to this vote to achieve the goal of getting 
Puerto Rico a legal status where our American citizens stand on the 
same footing as those in the rest of the Nation.
  This is the right thing to do. Inequality is not sustainable.
  For over 100 years our young men and women have fought in America's 
wars side by side with their fellow citizens

[[Page H5937]]

from all States, under the orders of a Commander in Chief we cannot 
vote for.
  For decades, my predecessors and I, lacking a vote on this House 
floor, have had to plead, with no proportional delegation, against 
bureaucracy and against both open and tacit discrimination in Federal 
programs and funding.
  Puerto Ricans have been a part of the great American family for over 
120 years. Puerto Ricans are part of what makes the United States what 
it is today. At work, schools, law, business, sports, government, and 
in communities in every State we contribute to the greatness of this 
Nation, and we are proud of that, Mr. Speaker.

                              {time}  1015

  We embrace being Americans, and we want to be looked at and treated 
as such by our own government system.
  It is time to get to work to give the people of Puerto Rico the 
equality that has been long promised but denied. After the discovery of 
the island, there were more than 100 years as a colony of Spain and now 
as a colony of the United States.
  This is the time. Let's do it. Respect the will of the people of 
Puerto Rico to become a State, and let's do it now.

                          ____________________