It appears Washington is trying to pass another fast one by the American people. On Thursday, there will be a vote that could move Puerto Rico towards statehood. If passed, this awards Puerto Rico with the right to 6 US congressmen, 2 senators, and 8 presidential electoral votes

A link to the actual Puerto Rican website and the organization sponsoring the bill:

http://www.hr2499.org/

From the US legislation:

"H.R. 2499 would allow Puerto Rico to conduct a vote on whether the island should retain its current relationship (a commonwealth) with the United States or pursue a different political status. If the vote favored retaining its current political status, Puerto Rico would be authorized to conduct an additional vote every eight years. If the vote favored a different political status, the legislation would allow Puerto Rico to conduct a second vote among three self-determination options (independence, sovereignty in association with the United States, or statehood)."


http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/cpquer...sel=TOC_23025&

Here's a story about the bill:

http://biggovernment.com/taylorking/...to-make-it-so/

About the sponsor of the bill: "As an active Democrat, he endorsed Senator Barack Obama for President and served as Co-Chair of Obama’s campaign in Puerto Rico. Congressman (Pedro R.) Pierluisi is a member of the New Progressive Party in Puerto Rico which advocates statehood for the Island territory. After more than 10 successful years in private law practice, he made the valiant decision to return to public service as the Resident Commissioner. He and Governor Luis Fortuño, both of the New Progressive Party, obtained the largest margin of victory in Puerto Rico in the past 44 years garnering a mandate of over one million votes.

Here's a link to the website about the sponsor of the bill:

http://www.pierluisi.house.gov/english/biography.html

Originally Posted by bkcunningham1

It appears Washington is trying to pass another fast one by the American people. On Thursday, there will be a vote that could move Puerto Rico towards statehood. If passed, this awards Puerto Rico with the right to 6 US congressmen, 2 senators, and 8 presidential electoral votes

A link to the actual Puerto Rican website and the organization sponsoring the bill:

http://www.hr2499.org/

From the US legislation:

"H.R. 2499 would allow Puerto Rico to conduct a vote on whether the island should retain its current relationship (a commonwealth) with the United States or pursue a different political status. If the vote favored retaining its current political status, Puerto Rico would be authorized to conduct an additional vote every eight years. If the vote favored a different political status, the legislation would allow Puerto Rico to conduct a second vote among three self-determination options (independence, sovereignty in association with the United States, or statehood)."


http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/cpquer...sel=TOC_23025&

Here's a story about the bill:

http://biggovernment.com/taylorking/...to-make-it-so/

About the sponsor of the bill: "As an active Democrat, he endorsed Senator Barack Obama for President and served as Co-Chair of Obama’s campaign in Puerto Rico. Congressman (Pedro R.) Pierluisi is a member of the New Progressive Party in Puerto Rico which advocates statehood for the Island territory. After more than 10 successful years in private law practice, he made the valiant decision to return to public service as the Resident Commissioner. He and Governor Luis Fortuño, both of the New Progressive Party, obtained the largest margin of victory in Puerto Rico in the past 44 years garnering a mandate of over one million votes.

Here's a link to the website about the sponsor of the bill:

http://www.pierluisi.house.gov/english/biography.html

Interesting reading BK and was not aware of the legislation (seems congress wants that) and am amazed at the constant and continuing sneak attacks these folks are making on us.

Every bill they pass is loaded with "details" and they continually legislate in "private" !!!

I believe PR should "spit of get off the pot".

If they want to become a state - fine. Their people are citizens of the U.S. now anyway (and have been since 1917), though a recent court decision apparently allows the U.S. to withdraw their citizenship for any 'valid federal reason'. My maternal grandmother was born there.

If they want to become their own country - fine. The IOC sees them that way and the U.N. wouldn't wouldn't mind since they have committees on "de-colonization".

Part of the problem is that there are too many options for any to be a majority. The vote often splits evenly three ways (statehood, independence, status-quo). Some political organizations in PR want to add a FOURTH option (revised Commonwealth status).

Make it a state. Make it a country. Pick one.

This is the only vote on the House floor today. It should be up to the citizens of Puerto Rico to vote. So why is the US pushing a slanted proposal to the voters? Puerto Ricans have the right to take up a referendum to consider statehood. They have done so in the past and voted against statehood.

According to Legislative Digest: "As some opponents of the legislation point out, this would mean that Puerto Rico would receive approximately six Members of the House and two Senators to represent them if they receive statehood. If the current limit of 435 House Members were maintained, this would mean that either some states slated to receive new seats following the census would stay at their current levels. According to CRS, this would likely mean that Arizona, Missouri, New York, South Carolina, Texas, and Washington would not receive expected gains in House representation allotments.

"Those who oppose H.R. 2499 contend that there are problematic consequences associated with potential Puerto Rican statehood which are not addressed in the bill. For instance, English and Spanish are both official languages in Puerto Rico, and the majority of government business is conducted in Spanish. In addition, Puerto Rican statehood would avail four million residents to certain federal assistance and welfare programs that already operate in the states but are not fully available in Puerto Rico. These new benefits would undoubtedly increase federal spending in Puerto Rico, where the median household income is $18,184 as compared to $35,411 in America's poorest state, Mississippi. Since the legislation would not actually change the current status of Puerto Rico, CBO will not calculate the costs of the possible political options in its score of H.R. 2499."

Talk about rigged. As I watch the debate on amendments to this bill, I'm astonished that the sponsor of the bill, Congressman (Pedro R.) Pierluisi, who is a member of the New Progressive Party in Puerto Rico, is opposed to printing the ballots for the people in Puerto Rico in SPANISH !! Democrat Nick Rahall, D, from West Virginia, and others agreed and opposed printing the ballots in Spanish. People had better wake-up.

Can anyone say with a straight face that this administration does not have hidden agendas? Just as we "Remember The Maine" we must remember these progressive crooks that have taken our government from us in 2010, and 2012. Vote the bums out of office forever!

Facts....Island governor Luis Fortuno speaker at 2008 GOP convention. He is a Reagan conservative who has been elected twice once by a record 225,000 votes. In 2008 when Reps got hammered GOP got goverors seat,President of Senate,speaker of House senate majority leader mayor of San Juan as well as majority of state legislaturors. 78%pro-life,86% say prayer should be allowed in schools,75% say displaying 10 commandments OK and the majority support school vouchers. These are the facts not some hidden agenda garbage,or Beck make believe nonsense,or another Obama trick. Your dislike for the man has clouded some of your judgements.
What I'm waiting for now is for someone to blame him for the oil spill that the drill baby drill crowd seems to be very quiet about. Lets trust those big oil companies to tell us the truth,they don't lie,its only Obama who lies.

From Puerto Rico Governor Luis Fortuño website:

" In addition to winning the governorship, Fortuño led the island’s New Progressive Party – a local party of pro-statehood Republicans and Democrats – to sweeping victories at both the legislative and municipal levels, winning two-thirds majorities of the Puerto Rico Senate and House of Representatives, as well as 48 of the island’s 78 mayors. His party’s candidate for Puerto Rico’s Resident Commissioner seat in the United States Congress, Pedro Pierluisi (D), was also elected by a wide margin."


http://www.prfaa.com/governor.asp

Originally Posted by waynet

. Lets trust those big oil companies to tell us the truth,they don't lie,its only Obama who lies.

At last we agree on something!!!!!

waynet, I don't know much about the website you copied your post from without any link, but if I'm not mistaken it's call (you fill in the blanks) f***france.com. Maybe you'd like to explain why you would copy word for word from that site and not give a link?

It is Obama's fault. It is Obama's fault, It is Obama's fault.


Gee, that felt good!!!!!

So BK lets get this right. You dont like my facts so you attack my sources.

Originally Posted by waynet

So BK lets get this right. You dont like my facts so you attack my sources.

I cannot speak for BK, but I dont think she attacked your sources, simply pointed out that you are stealling from other folks and being dishonest, posting information as your own thoughts and they are not.

There are RULES and LAWS governing all of that !!!!

My husband told me that this issue has come up a few times before and has been turned down. We'll see what happens.

Your husband is correct joannej. The issue has been put to a vote in Puerto Rico three times and failed each time. This is the first time the US Congress is trying to force a vote on the issue in Puerto Rico.