Puerto Rico Democracy Act of 2006

U.S. House of Representatives ^ | 3/02/2006 | Luis Fortuño (R-PR)

[cll]

Looks like we have a statehood bill once again. The fireworks have started.

[cll]

Puerto Rico PING!

Please FreepMail if you want on or off the list.

[cll]

Puerto Rico Democracy Act of 2006 Original Co-Sponsors

Republicans

1. Rep. Luis G. Fortuño (PR)

2. Rep. Don Young (AK)

3. Republican Conference Chair Deborah Pryce (OH)

4. Chief Dep. Majority Whip Eric Cantor (CA)

5. Rep. Howard P. "Buck" McKeon (CA)

6. Republican Policy Chair Adam Putnam (FL)

7. Rep. Thomas M. Davis (VA)

8. Republican Study Com. Chairman Rep. Mike Pence (IN)

9. Rep. Henry J. Hyde (IL)

10. Rep. Henry E. Brown, Jr. (SC)

11. Rep. Dan Burton (IN)

12. Rep. Jerry Weller (IL)

13. Rep. Lincoln Diaz Balart (FL)

14. Rep. Mario Diaz Balart (FL)

15. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (FL)

16. Rep. Mark Foley (FL)

17. Rep. Jeff Flake (AZ)

18. Rep. Charlie Dent (PA)

19. Rep. Henry Bonilla (TX)

20. Rep. Katherine Harris (FL)

21. Rep. Wayne Gilchrest (MD)

22. Rep. Lynn A. Westmoreland (GA)

23. Rep. Ted Poe (TX)

24. Rep. Mike Conaway (TX)

25. Rep. Kenny Marchant (TX)

26. Rep. Joe Wilson (SC)

27. Rep. John Mica (FL)

28. Rep. John Peterson (PA)

29. Rep. Tom Feeney (FL)

30. Rep. Charles Boustany (LA)

31. Rep. Marsha Blackburn (TN)

32. Rep. Chris Cannon (UT)

33. Rep. Joe Schwarz (MI)

34. Rep. Melissa Hart (PA)

35. Rep. Connie Mack (FL)

36. Rep. Dave Weldon (FL)

37. Rep. Michael McCaul (TX)

38. Rep. Michael Fitzpatrick (PA)

39. Rep. Rick Keller (FL)

40. Rep. Rick Renzi (AZ)

41. Rep. Randy Kuhl (NY)

42. Rep. Thelma Drake (VA)

43. Rep. Thaddeus McCotter (MI)

44. Rep. Howard Coble (NC)

45. Rep. Steve Pearce (NM)

46. Rep. Zach Wamp (TN)

47. Rep. John T. Doolittle (CA)

48. Rep. John N. Hostettler (IN)

49. Rep. Jeb Hensarling (TX)

50. Rep. Devin Nunes (CA)

51. Rep. Vito Fossella (NY)

52. Rep. Ken Calvert (CA)

53. Rep. Louie Gohmert (TX)

54. Rep. Greg Walden (OR)



Democrats



1. Rep. Jose Serrano (NY)

2. Rep. Steny H. Hoyer (MD)

3. Rep. Nick Rahall (WV)

4. Rep. Loretta Sanchez (CA)

5. Rep. Patrick Kennedy (RI)

6. Rep. Dale Kildee (MI)

7. Rep. Joe Crowley (NY)

8. Rep. Chaka Fattah (PA)

9. Rep. Neil Abercrombie (HI)

10. Rep. Collin Peterson (MN)

11. Rep. Bud Cramer (AL)

12. Rep. Allan Mollohan (WV)

13. Rep. Madeleine Z. Bordallo (Guam)

14. Rep. James Moran (VA)

15. Rep. Albert Wynn (MD)

16. Rep. Ron Kind (WI)

17. Rep. John Conyers (MI)

18. Rep. Jerrold Nadler (NY)

19. Rep. Gene Green (TX)

20. Rep. Ellen Tauscher (CA)





* Names in bold are members of the Resources Committee.

[Michael.SF.]

Looks like we have a statehood bill once again

I read it as three options:

A) Territory or non territory

If non territory: B) Statehood or C)independence.

Right now, I say C.

[cll]

Sorry. You don't get to vote.

BTW, the bill proposes that mainland Americans born in Puerto Rico be allowed to vote.

[MplsSteve]

To me, this sounds like a very reasonable bill.

Puerto Rico's future needs to be dealt with - aqui y ahora!

I'm not so sure that I like the idea of a referendum every 8 years though. I'd prefer a final straight up or down vote.

Either Puerto Rico wants to be part of the US or they want to be on their own.

[tcrlaf]

I agree, PR's future does need to be dealt with, but giving ANOTHER state and seats/electorals that go alonng with it to Democrats just isn't going to happen......

[cll]

"I'd prefer a final straight up or down vote."

Me too. But at least this starts the discussion again after almost 10 years in the backburner and 108 years of purgatory.

[cll]

Why would a state of Puerto Rico be Democrat. Republican or Democrat, is up for grabs.

[Brian Allen]

<< Either Puerto Rico wants to be part of the US or [it wants to be on its] own. >>

Puerto Rico lives on American welfare. It's going nowhere.

I'll lay San Juan to a brick the single outcome of any score of referenda is the statUS quo!

[Michael.SF.]

Why would a state of Puerto Rico be Democrat.

They have all the markings of potential democrats: Ethnic minority, poor, under educated.

Sure the smart rich PR's will vote republican, that should be good for a few per cent.

[Toddsterpatriot]

Puerto Rico as a state would be our own very expensive Quebec. Bad idea.

[Michael.SF.]

I'd prefer a final straight up or down vote

Which would then forever hold PR to the chosen status? Every eight years may be too often, but never again is a very long time.

[Michael.SF.]

Sorry. You don't get to vote.

I take it you are not being serious, as I did not intend to imply that I could vote on this issue. But I can still voice an opinion on which way I hope the vote goes.

I see no advantage to the USA in either continuing PR as a territory nor in making it a state.

I do see benefits of being rid of them and potentially saving us a few billion over the course of time.

[Toddsterpatriot]

BTW, the bill proposes that mainland Americans born in Puerto Rico be allowed to vote.

Doesn't seem fair. They get to vote in our elections, we don't get to vote in theirs.

[AuH2ORepublican]

"BTW, the bill proposes that mainland Americans born in Puerto Rico be allowed to vote.

Doesn't seem fair. They get to vote in our elections, we don't get to vote in theirs."

---

I agree 100%. And I'll go one further: I think that if that clause (added at the request of ultraliberal Democrat Jose Serrano of The Bronx so as to obtain Democrat support for the bill) is not excised from the bill prior to passage, the law may be declared unconstitutional. While states may treat U.S. citizens differently when it comes to electoral issues based on their residency, they may not discriminate against U.S. citizens based on their place of birth. The bill would treat two U.S. citizens who are next-door neighbors in Orlando or Fayetteville or wherever differently based on the fact that one was born in Puerto Rico and the other one wasn't, and that is a violation of Equal Protection, since voting requirements may only depend on the citizen's permanent residency, not on where he or she was born. I think this is a similar (albeit not identical) case to the Hawaii law that only allowed U.S. citizens of Native Hawaiian descent to vote for trustees of the Bishop Estate, which law was declared unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court.

And the clause doesn't even have the rationale of giving the votes to people with a real connection to Puerto Rico and a vested interest in the results of the referenda, since perhaps the Puerto Rico-born Orlando resident left Puerto Rico before he turned 2 years old and never returned, while the U.S. mainland-born Orlando resident may have been born to Puerto Rican parents who were attending college or were in the military and returned to Puerto Rico when he was 2 years old, and lived in Puerto Rico until a year ago. This clause doesn't even pass the smell test.

I hope they amend that clause away, since it's high time that Congress did something to end Puerto Rico's colonial status. At the very least, they should have an iron-clad severability clause so that the whole bill doesn't get struck down.

[AuH2ORepublican]

"They have all the markings of potential democrats: Ethnic minority, poor, under educated.

Sure the smart rich PR's will vote republican, that should be good for a few per cent."

---

You're way off on this one. 99% of the residents of Puerto Rico, regardless of skin color (which goes from the lightest white to the darkest black) or national descent (whether of Spanish, Corsican, German, Lebanese, French, or African descent), consider themselves Puerto Rican. The only residents of Puerto Rico who consider themselves "ethnic minorities" are those who grew up in the U.S. mainland and were told that they were minorities. If and when Puerto Rico becomes a state, the Democrats won't be able to play the race card to draw votes in Puerto Rico.

Puerto Rico voters are generally speaking very conservative on social issues and liberal-to-moderate on economic issues. Think Louisiana. I would wager that Puerto Rico would be a swing state in presidential elections (Louisiana has voted for the winner in every presidential election snce 1972) and would send 1 Republican and 1 Democrat to the Senate and 3 Republicans and 3 Democrats to the House.

[Laz711]

What about the other territories? Guam, American Samoa, Virgin Islands? Or our "Protectorate" of the Federated States of Micronesia (not quite a territory, but close enough)? We obtained most of those the same time we got Puerto Rico, after the war in 1898. I for one would like to see Guam as a state, just because it is beautiful and their tourism industry rakes in a lot of cash. It is definatly American, most of it anyways.

[cll]

I'm sorry I couldn't contribute anymore to this tonight. I went to dinner right after I posted this and am conked. Just thought I should post for the record and to help open a discussion.

[Windcatcher]

Does this mean we should start getting used to this?