Thread: Breaking News House Passes Puerto Rico Statehood Measure

Puerto Rico Statehood Bill HR 2499 Gets Congressional Approval

U.S. Congress today approved Puerto Rico Democracy Act (HR2499) allowing Puerto Rico to go for a referendum to decide if it wants a statehood, to maintain its current status. This may even open a door for the small Caribbean vacation island to look for independence. If the Puerto Rico decides to change the current status it will face four options.

Whether it is opening a door for independence or Puerto Rico's statehood the new HR 2499 legislation will cause changes int he relationship that Puerto Rico has had with the United states for the past 112 years. The options are now the possibility of a statehood, becoming the 51st state of USA, becoming more of a country or become and independent entity.

This initiative gives Puerto Rico a two-step pathway to express their will. It may change the political future of the island.

The 2-Step Pathway: Statehood or Other

In the first stage of the developments the residents of the Caribbean vacation island will choose if they want Puerto Rico to remain a commonwealth or take a different route. In case they prefer to change that status, there will be an amendment in the constitution of Puerto Rico. It will offer four options. Those four options are statehood for Puerto Rico making it the 51st state of the United States of America, Independence, acquire sovereignty while maintaining a partnership with the United States or again keep the current relationship with USA.

* Read 50 Opinions About Puerto Rico's Statehood Option

Written by Armen Hareyan
HULIQ.com

Submitted by Armen Hareyan on Fri, 2010-04-30 00:23

http://www.huliq.com/1/93060/puerto-ric ... l-approval

Statehood for Puerto Rico. Bad for Puerto Rico . . .
Residents of Puerto Rico have rejected statehood in every referendum conducted on the subject since 1967. ...
Because pro-Puerto Rico statehood legislation has been reintroduced ...

http://nopuertoricostatehood.com

Originally Posted by hardlineconstitutionalist

Must be about off shore drilling...

My thoughts too.It has to be a scheme so US businesses can plunder PR's Natural Resources.

Puerto Rican Lenders Face Their Own Crisis

April 29, 2010, 8:53 pm

The latest American banking crisis is taking shape far from Wall Street and the empty subdivisions that stretch across the Sun Belt. The trouble this time is in Puerto Rico, the Caribbean commonwealth whose banks have been laid low by economic woes that make the mainland’s recession seem mild, The New York Times’s Eric Dash reports.

Now, Washington policy makers, who watch over the territory’s banks as they do its defense and foreign relations, are moving to broker mergers among several major lenders there to head off what could be a series of costly failures. Deals could come as early as Friday.

Few people probably realize that the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, which insures bank deposits in the 50 states, also insures billions of deposits in Puerto Rico. So if a bank in Puerto Rico goes under, customers are protected.

Rising unemployment, sinking real estate values and deteriorating government finances have worsened Puerto Rico’s chronically troubled economy and added new urgency to the efforts to shore up its banks. Loans are scarce, making life even harder for many local businesses.

Etienne Cardona, the owner of Café Hacienda San Pedro, a coffee shop in San Juan, has been trying for six months to get an $80,000 loan to open a second location.

“They ask for so many details that require a substantial investment before the loan is even approved that we decided to put off the project,â€

I don't know about this. We are on the verge of disaster already. An overloaded system that cannot be sustained welcomes a poor country to join the union. Makes good sense, if by good sense you mean this will help further weaken America.

So we welcome Puerto Rico,
Juan, Alexandre and Chico,
The dems get more power,
and per Piven and Clower,
now 51 states up the creeko.

U.S. Council for Puerto Rico Statehood
A recent poll shows that now more than ever, a large island majority wants Statehood for Puerto Rico.
The poll, conducted in late May by Kaagan Research ...
www.prstatehood.com/

Originally Posted by SicNTiredInSoCal

Im lost on this one too. Does PR even WANT to become a state? Why can't they continue to stand on thier own? Why do these politicians want them? More taxpayers?

Does this mean we will have to add another star to our flag?

No, Perto Ricans have rejected statehood 3 times. The weasels in their government have "altered" their choices..either statehood or independence. They took away the commonwealth option.

Congress approves referendum on future of Puerto Rico

WASHINGTON (AP) — The House on Thursday approved legislation that could set in motion changes in Puerto Rico's 112-year relationship with the United States, including a transition to statehood or independence. The House bill would give the 4 million residents of the island commonwealth a two-step path to expressing how they envision their political future. It passed 223-169 and now must be considered by the Senate.

Initially, eligible voters, including those born in Puerto Rico but residing in the United States, would vote on whether they wish to keep their current political status or opt for a different direction.

If a majority are in favor of changing the current situation, the Puerto Rican government would be authorized to conduct a second vote and people would choose among four options: statehood, independence, the current commonwealth status or sovereignty in association with the United States. Congress would have to vote on whether Puerto Rico becomes a state.

Pedro Pierluisi, Puerto Rico's nonvoting delegate to the House, said that while the island has had votes on similar issues in the past, Congress has never authorized a process where Puerto Ricans state whether they should remain a U.S. territory or seek a nonterritorial status.

"The American way is to allow people to vote, to express themselves and to tell their elected officials how they feel about their political arrangements," said Puerto Rico Gov. Luis Fortuno at a news conference with Pierluisi. "For 112 years, we haven't had the chance ... to fully participate in one way or another in the decisions that affect our daily lives."

Puerto Rico became a U.S. territory at the end of the Spanish-American War. Those born on the island were granted U.S. citizenship in 1917 and Puerto Rico gained commonwealth status in 1952.

Today, Puerto Ricans serve in the military but can't vote in presidential elections. They do not pay federal income tax on income earned on the island.

In the last referendum, "none of the above" garnered 50% of the vote, topping the other options, including statehood at 46.5% and independence at 2.5%.

Some of those differences were evident among lawmakers of Puerto Rican background. Puerto Rico-born Rep. Nydia Velazquez, D-N.Y., and Rep. Luis Gutierrez, D-Ill., whose parents were from Puerto Rico, strongly opposed the measure, saying it was designed to push a statehood agenda. "This is the Puerto Rico 51st state bill," said Gutierrez, an independence proponent. "The deck is stacked."

But another Puerto Rico-born lawmaker, Democrat Jose Serrano of New York, backed it. "I support it because for the first time in 112 years the people of Puerto Rico will have an opportunity to express themselves."

Opposition to the House bill included Republican concerns about the consequences of Puerto Rico, where Spanish, as well as English, is the official language, becoming a state. Republicans said Puerto Rico would get some six seats in the House, possibly at the expense of other states, and that statehood would impose further burdens on the federal Treasury.

Republicans, led by Rep. Doc Hastings, R-Wash., unsuccessfully tried to attach a provision that ballots favoring statehood make clear that a Puerto Rican state would adopt English as its official language and abide by Second Amendment gun rights. The proposal was defeated 198-194.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington ... rico_N.htm

How kind of our house members to vote overwhelmingly to allow the citizens of Puerto Rico if they wish to become a state and thus citizens of the US. However, it seems they do not give a rap what I and other current citizens of the US think or feel. Of course, our taxes pay their exorbitant wages, which they in no way deserve, but, oh well, so what. They do richly deserve to be booted out and I will NEVER vote for those who have voted for this measure.

Originally Posted by sassypantz

How kind of our house members to vote overwhelmingly to allow the citizens of Puerto Rico if they wish to become a state and thus citizens of the US. However, it seems they do not give a rap what I and other current citizens of the US think or feel. Of course, our taxes pay their exorbitant wages, which they in no way deserve, but, oh well, so what. They do richly deserve to be booted out and I will NEVER vote for those who have voted for this measure.

Puerti Ricans are, and have been, citizens of the U.S. since 1917.

Puerto Rico has been under U.S. sovereignty for over a century and Puerto Ricans have been U.S. citizens since 1917.[1][2][3] Since the establishment of the current Commonwealth status in 1952, further local attempts to change the island's political status took place in 1967, 1993, and 1998. An additional referendum held in 1991 sought to amend the relationship through an amendment to the Puerto Rican constitution. Each time, the results favored retaining the commonwealth status over the possible independence of Puerto Rico and statehood alternatives.

Although Puerto Rico presently has a certain amount of local autonomy, according to the U.S. Constitution ultimate governance of the island is retained by both the U.S. Congress and President.[4][5] Thus, plebiscite results (and especially if not authorized by the Congress), while they reflect public sentiment, and thus bear some impact, can be ignored by Congress. Ultimately, the results of Puerto Rican plebiscites are opinions, although Congressional resolutions have expressed support for following the will of the Puerto Rican people.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_ ... uerto_Rico