Posted on 04/29/2010 7:54:30 AM PDT by opentalk
A move is afoot to grant statehood to Puerto Rico, and a vote in the U.S. House of Representatives tomorrow may put the island on a path to becoming the nation's 51st state.
Democrat Pedro R. Pierluisi, Puerto Rico's pro-statehood delegate to Congress and former co-chair of President Obama's 2008 presidential campaign in Puerto Rico, is sponsor of H.R. 2499, the Puerto Rico Democracy Act. The act has 181 co-sponsors.
"When I introduced this bill, I pledged to undertake every effort to ensure that the people of Puerto Rico finally have the opportunity to express themselves about the island's political status in a congressionally authorized vote," Pierluisi said last week. "Like all the battles I have fought in Congress – from the allocation of ARRA funds for Puerto Rico, to the inclusion of the island in the health-care reform legislation – I have not rested for a single moment. Today I am pleased to say that H.R. 2499 will have its day on the House floor, and I am confident that the legislation will be approved overwhelmingly."
(Excerpt) Read more at wnd.com ...
The great shakedown of America continues....
You wouldn’t think the ‘rats would want to bring in Spanish-speaking Republicans to congress.
I favor independence for PR. (That means they’ll be taking care of themselves.)
Shhhh, don’t tell them.
60 percent of PR oppose statehood. They are subdivided into 15 pro independence and 45 pro commonwealth. They are not stupid. The pro independence faction knows that once PR becomes a US state it would not be easy to break away, and the pro commonwealth people know that once PR is a state taxes will skyrocket. Those two groups may get together and chose commonwealth.
This is nothing but Floriduh redux. Its a count the votes scheme, until the result is to their liking. Then, then counting stops. PR has voted numerous times in the past, and has rejected statehood every time.
I wonder what effect independence would have on the status of the Puerto Rican American citizens born there but currently residing on the mainland.
This is likely, but the bill should be killed in Congress. The bill offers four options:
Status quo
Independence
Statehood
or “Sovereignty association” which is the same garbage we have here in Quebec.
Plus, if they vote status quo, they have another vote in 8 years. This bill reminds me of all the Quebec referendum votes up here.
I seem to recall there having been at least one referendum to the people of Puerto Rico regarding statehood in my lifetime. They opted to retain “territory” status. As I recall, the other two choices were “statehood” and “independent nation”.
Could Puerto Rico’s statehood be the only “real” legacy that is left to BHO?
I know this sounds outlandish, but it sounds to me if the crooked government in D.C. wants to annex any country in the world, they would definitely give it a try through the same means.
By the way, Puerto Ricans, unlike the U.S., enjoy a good street riot even if it means getting hurt or worse.
Yes, but now they’d get universal healthcare!
The law in effect when they were born would rule, I would think, unless they voluntarily chose to change allegiance.
Puerto Rico has continuously over the years voted to retain its’ Commonwealth Status. That is because as a Commonwealth, the economic aid they receive in many forms is far greater than what they would get from statehood. At any rate, this is nothing but a cheap trick to get more Democrats in Congress. Another reason to toss them out in November.
“I wonder what effect independence would have on the status of the Puerto Rican American citizens born there but currently residing on the mainland.”
Good question.
I would favor deeming that any “citizenship” right they might have claimed in our country would be transferred to the new, independent country of PR.
Are the democrats rigging Puerto Rico for statehood?
I’ll take “duh” for $400, Alex.
What next? Virgin Islands? Guam? Wake Island?
The previous times the people of Puerto Rico voted on the issue, in 1967 and 1993, they rejected statehood in favor of commonwealth status.
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