House approves referendum to 'decolonize' Puerto Rico
Rep. Norma Torres, D-Calif., left, speaks with Del. Jenniffer Gonzalez-Colon, R-Puerto Rico, joined at right by Rep. Dutch Ruppersberger, D-Md., after a vote on the Puerto Rico Status Act that would lay out a process for the people of Puerto Rico to determine the future of their political status, in Washington, Thursday, Dec. 15, 2022.
FARNOUSH AMIRI and DÁNICA COTO
Thu, December 15, 2022
WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. House passed a bill Thursday that would allow Puerto Rico to hold the first-ever binding referendum on whether to become a state or gain some sort of independence, in a last-ditch effort that stands little chance of passing the Senate.
The bill, which passed 233-191 with some Republican support, would offer voters in the U.S. territory three options: statehood, independence or independence with free association.
“It is crucial to me that any proposal in Congress to decolonize Puerto Rico be informed and led by Puerto Ricans,” said Rep. Raúl Grijalva, D-Ariz., chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee, which oversees affairs in U.S. territories.
The proposal would commit Congress to accept Puerto Rico into the United States as the 51st state if voters on the island approved it. Voters also could choose outright independence or independence with free association, whose terms would be defined following negotiations over foreign affairs, U.S. citizenship and use of the U.S. dollar.
Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, who has worked on the issue throughout his career, said it was “a long and torturous path” to get the proposal to the House floor.
“For far too long, the people of Puerto Rico have been excluded from the full promise of American democracy and self-determination that our nation has always championed,” the Maryland Democrat said.
After passing the Democrat-controlled House, the bill now goes to a split Senate where it faces a ticking clock before the end of the year and Republican lawmakers who have long opposed statehood.
Puerto Rico Gov. Pedro Pierluisi, of the pro-statehood New Progressive Party, traveled to Washington for the vote. He called it a historic day and said the 3.2 million U.S. citizens who live on the island lack equality, do not have fair representation in the federal government and cannot vote in general elections.
“This has not been an easy fight. We still have work to do,” he said. “Our quest to decolonize Puerto Rico is a civil rights issue.”
Members of his party, including Puerto Rico Resident Commissioner Jenniffer González, cheered the approval of the bill, although reaction in the U.S. territory was largely muted and tinged with frustration since it is expected to be voted down in the Senate.
The proposal of a binding referendum has exasperated many on an island that already has held seven nonbinding referendums on its political status, with no overwhelming majority emerging. The last referendum was held in November 2020, with 53% of votes for statehood and 47% against, with only a little more than half of registered voters participating.
The proposed binding referendum would be the first time that Puerto Rico's current status as a U.S. commonwealth is not included as an option, a blow to the main opposition Popular Democratic Party, which upholds the status quo.
Pablo José Hernández Rivera, an attorney in Puerto Rico, said approval of the bill by the House would be “inconsequential” like the approval of previous bills in 1998 and 2010.
“We Puerto Ricans are tired of the fact that the New Progressive Party has spent 28 years in Washington spending resources on sterile and undemocratic status projects,” he said.
González, Puerto Rico’s representative in Congress, praised the bill and said it would provide the island with the self-determination it deserves.
“Many of us are not in agreement about how that future should be, but we all accept that the decision should belong to the people of Puerto Rico,” she said.
___
Coto reported from San Juan, Puerto Rico.
All but 16 House Republicans vote against bill to allow Puerto Rico to decide its future
Thu, December 15, 2022
The House passed a bill to allow Puerto Rico voters to choose independence, statehood, or free association.
Only 16 Republicans joined all Democrats in supporting the bill.
Republicans opposed the bill in part due to long-standing opposition to Puerto Rico's statehood.
The House of Representatives voted by a 233-191 margin on Thursday to pass the Puerto Rico Status Act, with all but 16 House Republicans voting against the measure. Every House Democrat voted for the bill.
Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, who worked on the bill and is of Puerto Rican descent, presided over the vote.
The bill would give voters in Puerto Rico the opportunity to vote in a plebiscite next November, allowing them to choose between statehood, independence, or to enter into a compact of free association with the United States.
Lawmakers had long been working on the bill, and its addition to the calendar this week was unexpected. A handful of Republicans had co-sponsored the legislation, including Reps. Maria Elvira Salazar of Florida and Don Bacon of Nebraska.
It also had the support of the territory's Republican Resident Commissioner Jenniffer González-Colón who serves as a non-voting representative for the island in Congress.
Despite House passage, the bill is unlikely to pass the Senate, where it would need at least 10 Republican supporters.
House Republicans on Thursday cited a number of reasons for opposing the bill, including a lack of debate and the possibility that it would lead to statehood, which they've long opposed.
"At this point in time I'm not, you know, interested in going down that road," Republican Rep. Chip Roy of Texas told Insider. "We didn't have a debate about it, I haven't been a part of any of the debates on this. They're trying to jam this through right before Christmas."
Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia told Insider that she didn't think the bill was "the right way to go about something like that."
"I'm just not interested in Puerto Rico being a state," she said, adding that she didn't believe people living in Puerto Rico should get to vote on that.
Here are the 16 Republicans who voted for the bill:
Rep. Don Bacon of Nebraska
Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming
Rep. Rodney Davis of Illinois
Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania
Rep. Mayra Flores of Texas
Rep. Andrew Garbarino of New York
Rep. Tony Gonzalez of Ohio
Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler of Washington
Rep. Bill Huizenga of Michigan
Rep. Dave Joyce of Ohio
Rep. John Katko of New York
Rep. Dan Newhouse of Washington
Rep. Bill Posey of Florida
Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar of New York
Rep. Lloyd Smucker of Pennsylvania
Rep. Fred Upton of Michigan
No comments:
Post a Comment