US House approves referendum on Puerto Rico’s future

Invoice, unlikely to move within the Senate, would supply Puerto Rico voters selection between statehood and types of independence.

The USA Home of Representatives has handed a invoice to permit Puerto Rico to vote on a binding referendum on whether or not to turn out to be a state or achieve independence – a largely symbolic measure unlikely to move within the Senate.

The Home handed the proposal, dubbed the Puerto Rico Standing Act, in a 233-191 vote on Thursday. The proposal requires a vote in November of subsequent 12 months to “​​resolve Puerto Rico’s political standing”.

The measure would give Puerto Rican voters an opportunity to decide on between independence, sovereignty in free affiliation with the US or statehood. The referendum wouldn't embody Puerto Rico’s present standing as a US commonwealth.

“Many people usually are not in settlement about how that future needs to be, however all of us settle for that the choice ought to belong to the folks of Puerto Rico,” mentioned Puerto Rico Resident Commissioner Jenniffer Gonzalez, the island’s non-voting consultant within the US Congress.

For the primary time in our nation’s historical past, the U.S. acknowledged its position as a colonizing drive. The Puerto Rico Standing Act lays out a course of for the Island to determine its personal future. It doesn’t favor statehood, independence, or free affiliation. It permits Puerto Ricans to decide on. pic.twitter.com/fSgZymcpxU

— Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@RepAOC) December 15, 2022

However with the Congress, whose time period expires early subsequent month, heading to a recess, the proposed laws has nearly no probability of being taken up by the Senate, not to mention clearing the 60-vote threshold required for passing within the 100-member higher chamber.

On Friday, 16 Home Republicans joined Democrats in voting for the invoice.

“It's essential to me that any proposal in Congress to decolonise Puerto Rico be told and led by Puerto Ricans,” mentioned Democratic Congressman Raul Grijalva, chair of the Home Pure Assets Committee, which oversees affairs in US territories.

Puerto Rico residents are US residents however successfully haven't any illustration in Congress and can't vote in US normal elections.

A former Spanish colony, the Caribbean island was acquired by the US in 1898 after the Spanish-American struggle. With greater than three million folks, it's the most populous of the US territories subjected to totally different remedy than the nation’s 50 states.

For instance, the Supreme Courtroom dominated earlier this 12 months that Puerto Ricans weren't entitled to the identical federal welfare advantages as residents dwelling within the states.

Home Majority Chief Steny Hoyer mentioned on Friday that it was “an extended and torturous path” to get the proposal to the ground.

“For a lot too lengthy, the folks of Puerto Rico have been excluded from the total promise of American democracy and self-determination that our nation has at all times championed,” Hoyer mentioned.

Progressive Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who's of Puerto Rican descent, hailed the invoice as a “watershed second” that will enable the island to determine its personal future.

“Whereas Puerto Rico is just not the USA’s solely colony, it's its oldest,” Ocasio-Cortez mentioned earlier than the vote.

“In the present day for the primary time in our nation’s historical past, the USA will acknowledge its position as a colonising drive and Puerto Rico’s standing as an prolonged colony.”

Key Republican Congresswoman Elise Stefanik, who voted in opposition to the invoice, mentioned whereas she helps statehood for the island “if that's what the folks of Puerto Rico determine to pursue”, she opposed the invoice as a result of it might enable independence.

“The USA ought to carry the over three million Americans in Puerto Rico nearer, quite than pushing them additional away,” Stefanik mentioned in a press release.

“This final minute invoice was delivered to the ground by Nancy Pelosi with no committee listening to on the textual content. A proposal as difficult and impactful as statehood requires an intensive evaluation and debate.”

In 2020, Puerto Rican voters narrowly favoured statehood in a non-binding referendum that didn't embody independence.