[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 160 (2014), Part 9]
[House]
[Page 12717]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                     PUERTO RICO'S POLITICAL STATUS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Puerto Rico (Mr. Pierluisi) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. PIERLUISI. Madam Speaker, I rise to provide an update on Puerto 
Rico's political status, which is an issue of national significance.
  Puerto Rico is an unincorporated territory of the United States. 
Territory status is undemocratic. Although Puerto Rico is home to more 
American citizens than 21 States, island residents cannot vote for 
President, are not represented in the Senate, and have one nonvoting 
Delegate in the House.
  Territory status is also unequal. As a recent GAO report confirms, 
Puerto Rico is deprived of billions of dollars each year because it is 
treated worse than the States under a range of Federal programs. Every 
objective observer understands that territory status is the underlying 
cause of the economic, fiscal, and demographic crisis that has 
enveloped Puerto Rico. History teaches a simple lesson: no people have 
ever reached their potential while being deprived of political rights 
and denied equality under the law. Puerto Rico is no exception to this 
rule.
  If the people of Puerto Rico wish to discard territory status, there 
are two--and only two--paths forward. The territory can become a State 
on equal footing with the other States, or the territory can become a 
sovereign nation, either fully independent from the U.S., like the 
Philippines, or with a compact of free association with the U.S. that 
either nation can terminate, like the Republic of Palau. If Puerto Rico 
becomes a sovereign nation, future generations of island residents 
would not be American citizens and would receive reduced Federal 
support.
  In a 2012 referendum sponsored by the Government of Puerto Rico, a 
majority of my constituents expressed their opposition to territory 
status, which means that Puerto Rico is being governed without its 
consent. Statehood received more votes than territory status, which is 
unprecedented. And statehood obtained far more votes than either of the 
two nationhood options, which demonstrates that Puerto Rico has no 
desire to weaken or break the bonds forged with the United States over 
nearly 12 decades.
  At my urging and in response to this landmark vote, the Obama 
administration proposed an appropriation of $2.5 million to fund the 
first federally sponsored referendum in Puerto Rico's history with the 
stated goal being to resolve the territory's status. Earlier this year, 
Congress approved this appropriation with bipartisan support.
  Although the law does not specify how the ballot should be 
structured, it does require the Department of Justice to ensure that 
any option on the ballot is compatible with the Constitution, laws, and 
public policy of the United States. Therefore, the ballot cannot 
contain the status proposal known as ``enhanced commonwealth'' that one 
political party in Puerto Rico has consistently put forward over the 
years and that Federal officials--including the Obama administration, 
Senators Wyden and Murkowski--have just as consistently rejected as 
impossible.
  Moreover, the ballot should not contain the current territory status 
as an option because it was rejected in the 2012 referendum. It is the 
primary source of Puerto Rico's problems, and it does not resolve the 
island's status since, as long as Puerto Rico remains a territory, it 
has the potential to become either a State or a sovereign nation.
  Last week, the Governor of Puerto Rico announced his intention to use 
the $2.5 million to conduct a federally sponsored vote by the end of 
2016. I have proposed that the Federal funding be used to hold a yes-
or-no vote on whether Puerto Rico should be admitted as a State, just 
as Alaska and Hawaii did. This approach would yield a definitive result 
that nobody could reasonably question, and it has broad congressional 
backing, garnering support from 135 Members of the House and the 
Senate.
  If the Governor of Puerto Rico resists this approach, he will face a 
problem. The party he leads has never been able to agree upon a status 
proposal that does not conflict with U.S. law and policy.

                              {time}  1100

  But let me be clear. If a vote does occur, statehood advocates will 
show up in force. Any time, any place, an army of men and women will be 
there to seek equality and justice, and we will prevail.

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