Baldo Garza, LULAC’s national vice president, asked Obama to act in support of Resident Commissioner Pedro Pierluisi’s Puerto Rico Status Resolution Act (HR 2000), which hinges on a proposed federally sanctioned “yes” or “no” vote on statehood in Puerto Rico.

The bill has garnered 115 co-sponsors in Congress from across party lines and geographic regions since it was filed in May. Pierluisi lobbied hard for LULAC’s backing for the bill at the organization’s national convention in Las Vegas in June.

LULAC, the largest and oldest Hispanic organization in the U.S., said Puerto Rican voters rejected the current commonwealth status in the local election-day plebiscite last November, a reading that is shared by the White House.

“The results of the election showed that a clear majority of Puerto Rican voters do not support the current territorial status, and that more voters favor statehood than any other status option,” Garza said in a statement.

The White House has said “the results were clear, the people of Puerto Rico want the issue of status resolved, and a majority chose statehood in the second question.”

“Now is the time for Congress to act and the administration will work with them on that effort so that the people of Puerto Rico can determine their own future,” reads a statement by the White House issued in early December.

“LULAC is gratified with this administration in recognizing the historic nature of this vote. LULAC applauds and congratulates this administration on their successful request for an appropriation from Congress to conduct the first federally authorized vote in Puerto Rico’s history, with the express purpose of resolving the territory’s current status problem,” Garza said.

LULAC advances the economic condition, educational attainment, political influence, health and civil rights of Hispanic Americans. The organization involves and serves all Hispanic nationality groups. Garza, a Houston attorney, is the vice president of the southwest region.

In the plebiscite’s two-question vote, 53.97 percent of voters said they were against continuing Puerto Rico’s current commonwealth territory status. A second question had voters choose among “nonterritorial” alternatives to the current status, with 61.13 percent voting for statehood, 33.34 percent voting for Puerto Rico becoming a nation in a free association with the U.S. and 5.49 percent voting for independence. Some 26 percent of ballots cast were left blank to protest that the status quo was left off the second ballot.

Gov. Alejandro García Padilla maintains that the blank votes dropped support for statehood to just 44 percent. He and his commonwealth Popular Democratic Party argue the ballot was rigged against the current status and that the empty ballots represent a protest against commonwealth’s exclusion in the wording of the first question and total absence from the second question.

The New Progressive Party and Puerto Rican Independence Party maintain that the results of the two-step plebiscite represent a clear rejection of the continuation of the current territorial status. Those voting “no” included statehood supporters, as well as advocates of independence and free association.

The Obama administration didn’t sent a representative to testify Thursday during a hearing on the plebiscite results and the White House’s response held by the U.S. Senate Energy & Natural Resources Committee, which has jurisdiction over Puerto Rico issues in the upper chamber.

The hearing, which marked the first time a congressional committee has taken up the status issue since the latest plebiscite, was headed by committee Chairman Ron Wyden, an Oregon Democrat, and Alaska’s Lisa Murkowski, the ranking Republican on the panel. Both concurred that the November vote was a rejection of the current commonwealth as they sought to map a way forward on a resolution of the status dilemma.

Pierluisi’s HR 2000 would make a congressional offer of statehood to Puerto Rico, which voters could reject in a “yes or no” vote.

The bill is the first to formally attempt to win Puerto Rico’s admission as a state of the union in the more than century-long relationship between the U.S. and the island. The measure aims to commit Congress to the results of the future vote that would take place in Puerto Rico.

Voters would be asked, “Do you want Puerto Rico to be admitted as a state of the United States?” and if they support statehood, the bill directs the president to introduce legislation within 180 days of the vote that would “admit Puerto Rico as a state of the Union on equal footing with the several states in all respects.”

The bill also states “this Act constitutes a commitment by Congress to act, through legislation, to admit Puerto Rico as a state of the Union on an equal footing with the several states in all respects.”

“It is a sad but undeniable reality that the people of Puerto Rico, despite being citizens of the greatest democracy in history, have a political status that is undemocratic and unequal,” Garza said. “For both moral and legal reasons, it is incumbent upon the federal government to facilitate Puerto Rico’s transition to a more democratic and dignified status. Because H.R. 2000 establishes a fair, straightforward and transparent process that responds to the historic results of the November referendum, it has LULAC’s strong endorsement.”

No decision has been made on whether the U.S. House Natural Resources Committee will schedule hearings on HR 2000, but chairman Richard Norman “Doc” Hastings said “there is strong interest among both Republicans and Democrats in Congress in listening to and considering all local views in determining Puerto Rico’s future.”

A Congressional Budget Office (CBO) report on the costs of statehood is expected to factor into Hastings’ decision, according to CARIBBEAN BUSINESS sources. The report could be ready anytime this summer, but some reports indicate it will be delayed until the fall.

García Padilla and the PDP oppose HR 2000, saying they support the position of the White House “to assure fair treatment for all” in seeking a status solution.

PIP leader Rubén Berríos has rejected Pierluisi’s bill as “counterproductive” and “doomed to fail.”

Among the co-sponsors of the bill is Rep. José Serrano, a Mayaguez native and veteran Bronx Democrat, who stood with Pierluisi outside the Capitol as the bill was unveiled.

The only Republican stateside Puerto Rican member of Congress, Idaho Rep. Raúl Labrador, has said he’ll vote for HR 2000. The Carolina-born lawmaker hasn’t signed on as a co-sponsor, but is potentially a key GOP voice if he becomes more vocal in his backing of the bill.

That leaves two stateside Puerto Rican members of Congress — Illinois Rep. Luis Gutiérrez and N.Y. Rep. Nydia Velázquez — both of whom have voiced strong opposition to Puerto Rican statehood.

In a letter to colleagues on Capitol Hill last month, Gutiérrez and Velázquez urged their fellow House members to reject HR 2000, arguing that statehood lost the local election-day status plebiscite in Puerto Rico last November.

“Given the intentionally flawed nature of last year’s referendum, a true process of self-determination should take place in which all the available options are presented to the voters in Puerto Rico,” the lawmakers wrote. “Therefore, we urge our colleagues to join us in opposing the statehood vote that HR 2000 would impose and instead support a true process of self-determination, such as a constitutional assembly or the president’s FY 2014 budget request, that ensures that all voters are included in the process.”

The Illinois-born Gutiérrez is a staunch critic of the island’s NPP, which he was frequently targeted on a range of issues in speeches on Capitol Hill in recent years. Velázquez, a native of the southern Puerto Rico town of Yabucoa, has been less vocal on island politics and status.

Their lobbying against HR 2000 drew an apparent response from Pierluisi as the island’s sole representative in Congress took up the bill and Puerto Rico’s status in a five-minute floor speech last month.

“I always find it ironic when some of my colleagues from the states — who, along with their constituents, enjoy all the benefits of statehood — seek to prevent my constituents from exercising those same rights and responsibilities. I have concluded that these forces cannot be reasoned with; they must simply be defeated. And they will be,” Pierluisi said.

Puerto Rico Gov. Alejandro García Padilla and his commonwealth Popular Democratic Party oppose HR 2000, saying they support the position of President Barack Obama “to assure fair treatment for all” in seeking a status solution.

Puerto Rican Independence Party leader Rubén Berríos has rejected Pierluisi’s bill as “counterproductive” and “doomed to fail.”

Congress is still weighing Obama’s $3.8 trillion fiscal 2014 budget proposal that includes $2.5 million for voter education and the first federally sanctioned plebiscite in Puerto Rico on options that would “resolve” the fundamental question of the island’s future political status.

The $2.5 million assignment would be granted to the Puerto Rico State Elections Commission “for objective, nonpartisan voter education about, and a plebiscite on, options that would resolve Puerto Rico’s future political status.”

The U.S. House Appropriations Committee has approved the plebiscite funding. It has not been taken up in the Senate.

The House committee report states that the federal funding shall not be provided by the U.S. Department of Justice to the State Elections Commission until 45 days after the DOJ notifies the relevant committees in Congress that the department has approved the local election agency’s plan for voter education and administration of the vote, including approval of the ballot itself. The DOJ must certify to Congress that the ballot and voter education materials are compatible with “the Constitution and laws and policies of the United States.”

In a March 2011 report, the President’s Task Force on Puerto Rico’s Status found that the island’s development needs were hindered by lack of resolution of the ultimate status question. The issue also raises questions about the appropriate federal policies related to Puerto Rico.

Lucha E51 Ayuda con tu co-Auspicio en

http://www.petition2congress.com/10092/we-want-puerto-rico-to-be-51st-state-united-states-america/

http://www.elnuevodia.com/fotogaleria-audienciaenelsenadodeeeuusobrestatusdepuertorico-1564186.html/1

Para Co-Auspiciar el HR-2000 solicitando la Admisión de Puerto Rico como Estado de la Unión Americana
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Tiene más respaldo que el 98% del total de las medidas presentadas

Washington, DC – El proyecto de estatus- H.R. 2000- alcanzó la cantidad de  120 co-auspiciadores, lo que significa que cuenta con más respaldo  en el Congreso que el 98% del total de las medidas radicadas a la fecha, anunció hoy el Comisionado Residente en Washington, Pedro Pierluisi.

Sólo 68 de los 2,977 proyectos de ley sometidos en la Cámara de Representantes federal hasta la fecha tienen más de 115 co-auspiciadores.

“Posterior a la vista pública de la Comisión de Energía y Recursos Naturales del Senado federal en la que discutimos el tema del estatus de Puerto Rico he conseguido 13 nuevos co-auspiciadores de congresistas que entendieron el mensaje de la importancia de resolver el estatus territorial actual.  Esto es evidencia de que cada día contamos con más respaldo. Este apoyo es un paso importante en nuestro camino hacia un futuro en el que Puerto Rico pueda finalmente gozar de un estatus político que sea completamente digno y democrático ”, expresó Pierluisi.

“Sólo existen 8 proyectos de ley con más co-auspiciadores que el H.R. 2000 que han sido presentados por un representante demócrata y que cuentan con al menos 1 co-auspiciador republicano.  Sólo 3 de esos 8 proyectos de ley tienen más apoyo republicano que el H.R. 2000, el cual cuenta con 12 co-auspiciadores republicanos.  Un proyecto que no cuente con apoyo de ambos partidos no se convertirá en ley”, enfatizó el Comisionado Residente.

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