A vote in the U.S. House of Representatives today has put Puerto Rico one step closer on a path to becoming the nation's 51st state.
The House passed H.R. 2499, the Puerto Rico Democracy Act, on a 223-169 vote. Now the Senate will take up the measure.
Puerto Ricans have voted against statehood three times since 1967, preferring their present status as an independent commonwealth in association with the U.S. Under H.R. 2499, Puerto Ricans will vote on the issue of statehood yet again.
The last statehood vote, or plebiscite, held on Dec. 13, 1998, failed to yield a majority vote on any of the five options: enhanced commonwealth (0.29 percent), statehood (46.4 percent), independence (2.5 percent), free association (0.06 percent) and none of the above (50.3 percent).
Puerto Rico's current commonwealth status allows the 4 million mostly Spanish-speaking Puerto Ricans to benefit from the protection of the U.S., but they are not required to pay federal income taxes on income they earn from island sources. However, they do pay federal payroll taxes for Social Security and Medicare. They currently do not vote in presidential elections and have non-voting representation in Congress.
According to the General Accounting Office, half of all Puerto Ricans would qualify for food stamps and federal assistance under statehood.
"So Democrats are drawn to the prospect of a constituency likely to elect more Democrats to Congress," wrote Eddie Garcia, member of the National Advisory Board of ProEnglish in a column published by the New York Post.
In a recent commentary published by Roll Call, Roberto G. DePosada, former president of the Latino Coalition and senior adviser to the National Coalition of Latino Clergy and Christian Leaders, explained why he believes Puerto Rican politicians are rallying behind statehood.
"Why would Puerto Rican statehood leaders use such strong-arm tactics to force their way into the Union?" he asked. "One reason is that Puerto Rico's government is deeply in debt and its economy is weighed down by a bloated public employment sector. Its PNP-led government is desperate. It recently had to furlough 30,000 government workers, and it hopes for a bailout from the U.S. Treasury that it could not hope to get as a commonwealth."
Read more about it here
DelMarVa's Premier Source for News, Opinion, Analysis, and Human Interest Contact Publisher Joe Albero at alberobutzo@wmconnect.com or 410-430-5349
7 comments:
Its a bail-out, bastards. Anybody else getting tired of this shit.
yup doug....most of us.
I guess I will need a new flag
yup huh,? I know you...
As the article states, this is nothing more than an attempt by the Democrats to capture a large block of free government cheese eating potential voters who would vote Democratic to keep the entitlements rolling. It's the same reason why either party has refused to address the problem with illegal immigration. Neither party wants to piss off the Latino vote by appearing to be the bad guy. So while the politicians are pandering to protect their political lives, it's the U.S. citizens that are picking up the tab in the form of higher taxes and becoming victims to crime committed by illegals.
Republicans who are afraid that Puerto Rico might send only Democrats to Congress might check their concerns with the island's governor, Luis Fortuno, a speaker at the 2008 GOP convention. Fortuno is a not only a Reagan conservative who has been elected island-wide twice in the last five years — in 2008, he was elected by 225,000 votes, the biggest margin of electoral victory in 44 years. While mainland Republicans struggled in ’08, the GOP bucked the tide in Puerto Rico, with victories that included the governor's seat, president of the Senate, speaker of the House, Senate majority leader, mayor of San Juan, and a majority of mayors in the 78 municipalities, as well as the majority of state legislators throughout the island. These results are no surprise. Polls tell us that 78 percent of the island’s residents are pro-life; 86 percent say prayer should be allowed in schools; 75 percent say displaying the Ten Commandments on government property should be allowed; a majority supports vouchers for private schools. An overwhelming majority of Puerto Rican citizens embrace socially conservative values.
Good luck finding polls like that anywhere in the mainland U.S. Puerto Ricans would likely vote like Cubans, not Mexicans, because the culture of PR is similar to Cuba, not Mexico or Central America.
It really doesn't matter who they will send to congress, they are in worse financial shape than California and we just cannot afford another potential bailout. From what I understand from a relative that stopped by there on a cruise last year, Puerto Rico is a large slum with few areas that you can go to safely. We do not need and cannot afford another drain on the U.S. taxpayer.
Post a Comment