Posted on 04/27/2010 3:43:23 PM PDT by GailA
According to Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD), the House will vote on H.R. 2499, the Puerto Rico Democracy Act, later this week. The legislation provides Puerto Rico a two stage voting process and makes some non-resident Puerto Ricans eligible to vote on Puerto Rican statehood. This legislation has rigged the process in favor of making Puerto Rico the 51st state and is not a fair way to force statehood on a Commonwealth whose people may not want it. Furthermore, this may be an expensive proposition for the American people who are already on the hook for approximately $12.9 trillion in national debt.
This bill attempts to rig the voting process and denies the American people a real say on the issue of whether they want to allow Puerto Rico to be granted statehood. The fact of the matter is that Puerto Ricans have rejected statehood numerous times and this bill seems to have been written in a way to fast track statehood without a majority of Puerto Ricans favoring the idea. Furthermore, the people of the United States should be allowed a vote on whether they want to admit Puerto Rico as a new state. If the people of Puerto Rico can vote, the people of the United States should have a vote.
(Excerpt) Read more at blog.heritage.org ...
From my email this morning:
NEWS FLASH: Last evening, the Republicans held together to block Reid’s effort to achieve cloture (60 votes needed) to go forward with a vote on S. 3217 (Restoring American Financial Stability Act of 2010). The vote was 57-41-2. Unfortunately, this is not the end of the issue: Talks continue as GOP senators block advance of financial overhaul bill.
http://www.votervoice.net/link/clickthrough/ext/103900.aspx
House will vote on Puerto Rican Statehood this week!
Tell your Congressman to vote NO on the Puerto Rico Democracy Act (H.R. 2499) today!
Answers Needed Before Another Star is Added to U.S. Flag
IMPORTANT: Please concentrate on these targets* and send the indicated staffer a direct email asking them to explain why their boss is supporting this bill and stating that you want them to vote NO. Just a few emails from their own constituents would be enough to change a YES vote to a NO vote.
Please click HERE to send your congressman an email.
Last Tuesday, the House leadership pulled the controversial D.C. House Voting Rights bill from the floor schedule, and we thank you for all of your calls and for taking action! However, just two days after they backed away from the D.C. bill, the House announced that it would move to consider an even more controversial bill that paves the way for U.S. territory Puerto Rico to become the 51st state!
Sponsored by Puerto Rican delegate Pedro Pierluisi (D), the Puerto Rico Democracy Act (H.R. 2499) - which has reared its ugly head a number of times over the past few congresses but has yet to have any success - would require Puerto Ricans to hold a national referendum to decide if they want Puerto Rico to remain a self-governing U.S. commonwealth, or become the 51st
state.
The referendum would be set up as two plebiscites which would effectively deceive Puerto Ricans into voting for statehood. In the first round of votes, the Puerto Rican people would be given the choice between remaining a U.S. territory and “pursuing a different political status.” If the majority votes to maintain the status quo, this bill would require that Puerto Rico vote on this same issue every eight years. If the majority votes for “different status,” a second round of votes would be held where Puerto Ricans would choose either statehood or independence-the status quo of “U.S. territory” would not even be an option! In other words, the two ballots would be rigged to favor the outcome of statehood, overriding the wishes of Americans and Puerto Ricans who want to maintain the current commonwealth status.
Why we do not want Puerto Rico admitted as the 51st state:
· The U.S. would transform, overnight, into a bilingual nation. At least half of Puerto Ricans do not speak English, the language of our U.S. Constitution and founding documents. The Washington Times article, “Puerto Rican statehood,” analyzes all the implications of adding a foreign language-speaking state to the Union.
· It would bring immediate demands for massive federal spending. The average income of Puerto Ricans is less than half that of our poorest state, and infrastructure and the environment are far below American standards. Puerto Rico has a population with a median national income of $17,741, nearly a third below that for the U.S.
· Puerto Rico is already a democracy. Despite the bill’s deceptive title, Puerto Rico already has an elected government and exists as a self-governed commonwealth of the U.S.
· Statehood would give Puerto Rico more congressional representation than 25 of our 50 states! It would inevitably give Democrats two additional U.S. Senators and 6 to 8 additional Members of the House.
H.R. 2499 is stealth legislation designed to lead to the admission of Spanish-speaking Puerto Rico as the 51st state, thereby making us a de facto bilingual nation, like Canada. The U.S. Congress should not be forcing Puerto Ricans to vote on statehood, especially since the Puerto Rican people have rejected statehood three times since 1991!
No Member of Congress who describes himself as a limited government, fiscal conservative should be casting a YEA vote for H.R. 2499, as Puerto Rican statehood would cause an immediate increase in federal expenditures, particularly for taxpayer-funded welfare state services.
How about cutting Puerto Rico free. If they want democracy rather than to join the Republic, why not simply cut them free tomorrow?
DC and Puerto Rico. More Dem voters. Who knew?
After we admit Puerto Rico, I saw we make it an even 52 states by making California into 2 states - Northern California and Southern California.
An overwhelming number of our public school graduates think the U.S. has 52 states anyway..........
But it would probably mean two more Democrat senators and a few more Democrat representatives... as well as a way to make the United States “officially” bilingual. It’s all politics.
Puerto Ricans had better be wary. This may be biased in favor of Taxhood (that's "impuesto" in Spanish).
northern california is actually conservative right?...not a bad idea if there must be compromise...but i hope neither one happens
dems are just looking for more voters especially now that they see their power is going to be challenged this november
You know Dem-bulbs are running scared when they pull this out of their hat.
Could we also have a East Alaska and a West Alaska, along with a South Eastern West Virginia?
· Statehood would give Puerto Rico more congressional representation than 25 of our 50 states! It would inevitably give Democrats two additional U.S. Senators and 6 to 8 additional Members of the House.
They are getting a lot of cash in welfare already cut them loose F them and the Rats.
Because none of these choices ever received over 50% of the vote, the status quo has remained.
The status quo has remained NOT because that is what the people of Puerto Rico want, but because of the stupid voting process which is currently biased in favor of keeping things the way they are.
What should happen is a two part vote: the first vote would be like in past where all three choices would be available. Then there would be a run-off between the top two vote-getters in the first round.
The current bill may not be good, but it is better than the costly current process guaranteed to accomplish nothing but waste money.
Puerto Ricans will never go for it, because they would have to give up their Olympic team, and that’s a real big deal to them.
They don’t want to be a state they hate Amerika.
We should let Puerto Rico decide.
No matter what way you divide up California it will result in more Dem representatives.
The libs do this every couple years. Puerto Rico should just break ties with us. They’ll fall apart like every other socialist island out there.
It wasn't always this way ... Boxer and other Democrat Socialists are facing tough re-election battles come November.
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