Committee to vote on status bill next week

The four-page HR-2499, also known as the Puerto Rico Democracy Act of 2009, authorizes the island government to hold a referendum in which voters will choose whether they think Puerto Rico should continue its current status. If voters choose that Puerto Rico keep the same status, then the local government is authorized to hold a vote every eight years to determine if public opinion has changed.

If voters say they want a change in status, then a second vote would be held in which voters can choose between statehood, independence and a third option of sovereignty in association with the United States that is not subject to the territorial clause.

I don’t have the energy to fully get into it right now, but statehood for Puerto Rico is an issue that I am intensely passionate about. As it stands now, we are second-class citizens. We are American citizens from birth and yet we can’t vote for the President and do not have proper representation in Congress. All we have is a nonvoting delegate called a Resident Commissioner. The only reason I was able to vote in the 2008 election was because I now happen to live in the continental US.

Statehood has been a hot-button issue in Puerto Rico for as long as I can remember. It is by far the most divisive issue in the Island. Current polls show the pro-statehood side has a slight advantage so this bill’s timing seems right.

Equality here we come.

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  1. randyhaddock posted this