[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 159 (2013), Part 1]
[House]
[Page 254]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                         PARITY FOR PUERTO RICO

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Puerto Rico (Mr. Pierluisi) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. PIERLUISI. Mr. Speaker, tomorrow I will reintroduce two bills: 
the first to extend the SSI program to Puerto Rico, and the second to 
provide fair treatment to Puerto Rico under TANF.
  SSI provides assistance to blind, disabled, and elderly individuals 
with low incomes. Congress has chosen not to extend the program to 
Puerto Rico, which instead receives a limited block grant. The average 
SSI payment to residents of the States is $500 a month, while the 
average payment to residents of Puerto Rico is just $70.
  The TANF program provides payments to needy families with children. 
The territories are not eligible for certain TANF grants. Moreover, 
Federal law imposes a cap on the aggregate funding that a territory can 
receive under a combination of safety net programs, including TANF. My 
legislation would eliminate this cap, which has not been increased 
since 1996, and make the territories eligible for TANF grants they do 
not currently receive. Equality under TANF would mean at least $40 
million in additional funding for Puerto Rico each year.
  Those who seek evidence of how Puerto Rico is harmed by its territory 
status need look no further than the treatment it receives under SSI 
and TANF. I will fight to secure parity under these two programs. But 
as long as Puerto Rico remains a territory, it will be an uphill 
battle.
  Mr. Speaker, Puerto Rico recently held a referendum on its political 
status. Under the current status, the 3.7 million American citizens 
living in Puerto Rico cannot vote for the leaders who make their 
national laws and are treated unequally under those laws, as the 
examples of SSI and TANF well illustrate.
  The ballot had two questions. On the first question, voters were 
asked if they wanted Puerto Rico to remain a territory. Of 1.8 million 
voters, 54 percent said they do not want the current status to 
continue, while 46 percent say they do.
  On the second question, voters were asked to express their preference 
among the alternatives to the current status. Of the 1.4 million people 
who chose an option, 61 percent voted for statehood, 33 percent for 
free association, and 5.5 percent for independence.

                              {time}  1020

  The 834,000 votes for statehood on the second question exceeded the 
828,000 for the current status on the first question. For the first 
time ever, more people in Puerto Rico want to be a state than to 
continue as a territory.
  True to form, defenders of the status quo have tried to distort the 
results of this referendum, making claims that are intellectually 
dishonest and divorced from the facts. These critics ignore the results 
of the first question and argue that, because close to 500,000 people 
left the second question blank, statehood did not prevail in the 
referendum.
  Let me be clear so there is no confusion. A majority of voters in 
Puerto Rico soundly rejected the current status. Among the three 
alternatives, statehood won a decisive victory, and statehood obtained 
a greater number of votes than any other status option, including the 
current status.
  Mr. Speaker, at yesterday's inauguration, President Obama invoked the 
Declaration of Independence:

       We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are 
     created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with 
     certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, 
     liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

  President Obama then emphasized, while these truths may be self-
evident, they have never been self-executing; that while freedom is a 
gift from God, it must be secured by His people here on Earth.
  To uphold this Nation's core principles and values, the President and 
Congress must respond to the democratic expression of their fellow 
citizens in Puerto Rico, who have withdrawn their consent to a 
political status that makes them second-class citizens and who have 
made clear that they aspire to have full democratic rights and full 
equality under the law. None of my stateside colleagues in Congress 
would accept territory status for their own constituents, so they must 
recognize and they must respect that the American citizens I represent 
no longer accept it either.

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