Puerto Rico Ping! Please Freepmail me if you want on or off the list.
Posted on 06/09/2016 6:35:42 AM PDT by cll
Pop quiz: What’s the national citizenship of people born in Puerto Rico to parents who were also born in Puerto Rico?
If you don’t know the answer to that question, you’re not alone. Puerto Ricans are U.S. citizens, but only 43% of Americans answered correctly in a recent Economist/YouGov poll. Some 41% said they were citizens of Puerto Rico, while another 15% weren’t sure.
The statistic underscores one challenge Congress has faced as it considers legislation to address the island’s debt crisis: The issue hasn’t been a high priority for lawmakers partly because their constituents aren’t aware that Puerto Ricans are U.S. citizens. The island’s government says it cannot afford payments on its $70 billion debt, and its public corporations aren’t eligible to seek protection from creditors in federal bankruptcy court because it isn’t a state.
The House is set to vote Thursday on a bill that would authorize a federal oversight board with managing what could be the largest municipal-debt restructuring in U.S. history. The legislation followed months of negotiations between lawmakers and the Treasury Department.
The poll found that a narrow plurality of respondents believe Puerto Rico should join the U.S. as the 51st state, with 29% supporting that option. Another 25% said Puerto Rico should maintain its current status as a federal territory, while 20% supported making Puerto Rico an independent nation. Some 39% of Democrats backed statehood, compared to 25% of Republicans.
The legislation before Congress wouldn’t authorize federal funds to be spent on Puerto Rico. Instead, it would empower a seven-member oversight board with stabilizing the island’s finances, including by authorizing a court-supervised debt restructuring for any of the island’s 18 classes of debt.
(Excerpt) Read more at blogs.wsj.com ...
Who cares? Apparently nobody.
Puerto Rico Ping! Please Freepmail me if you want on or off the list.
We should have forced Puerto Rico to make a choice years ago; become a state or become a completely independent nation.
Why is that a problem? Seems like ALL of Puerto Rico would be federal territory. Is it a Constitution thingy?......................
Says more about our crappy education system then Americans. You won’t hear liberals saying that though.
We made a choice in 2012. Statehood. Congress ignored it.
Not surprising that the lawmakers weren’t aware of Puerto Rican citizen status....they aren’t aware of many of us in the continental U.S. as being citizens either.
Since they can’t vote in presidential elections and don’t have any meaningful representation in Congress, the politicos there don’t care one whit. If they become a state, then they will have two Senators and a House delegation that has voting power to be bought and sold at the going price...........................
Don’t let them become a full state because they are a ‘taker’ nation, heavily democrat part supporters.
Was a official request for statehood sent to Congress by the governor and legislature?....................
More importantly, how about their neighbors.
Why do you see those two choices as the choices facing PR? What is wrong with them keeping their current status in perpetuity? Why the idea that they either have to be bound into the union as a state, or else be an independent country?
It should be given its independence.
No. That’s why our Congressman was booted during last Sunday’s primaries.
The fact that they ARE citizens, allowed to travel freely in the US and speak Spanish was the start of bi-lingual literacy tests for voting....back when we had literacy tests.
What party? Or need I ask?.........................
Democrat. He was running for governor, though. His local party, which is comprised of both democrats and republicans, chose a Republican for their Congress ticket for the upcoming November election.
Interesting...........................
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