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AP Photo/Alex Brandon
Quietly sailing through the House this week is yet another piece of partisan stealth legislation aimed at manufacturing more Democrat power at the expense of the American people, the economy and the country.
This time, it's the Puerto Rico Democracy Act (H.R. 2499). It would force Puerto Rico to vote on U.S. statehood and is designed to stack the deck in favor of statehood, going even as far as to require the territory to vote every eight years until statehood is accepted.
Not only is Puerto Rico already a fully-functioning democracy, but it has also repeatedly rejected attempts to turn it into a U.S. state, for decades.
But still, desperate to create new Democrat voters and elected officials, the left is now aggressively setting the stage for the creation of a 51st state.
Due to its dense population of poverty-stricken minorities, Puerto Rico can be counted on to vote overwhelmingly for Democrats and all their handouts, and their representation will also consequently outnumber that of 25 other existing U.S. states.
Meanwhile, with Puerto Ricans having an average income of less than half that of our poorest state, they will instantly become eligible for dozens of our welfare programs. Truckloads of taxpayer dollars will also have to be perpetually dumped into the territory, by federal law, to bring it up to American infrastructure and environmental standards.
This will also force the U.S. to become a bi-lingual country overnight, which will produce a whole new set of problems.
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Comments
Given the complicated history between PR and the US, it is certainly not a foregone conclusion that they would want to be the 51st state in the union.
The bill simply asks the question - if the answer is no we like things the way they are - then nothing happens.
In 8 years the question will be asked again.
It seems that we are trying to respect PR's sovreignty - the way things are right now, the US is way into their business.
HR2499, in no way forces Congress to make PR a state.
More completely ridiculous blathering. There is nowhere in this bill that Puerto Rico is "forced" to do anything. My goodness, where did you plagiarize (sorry, paraphrase) this junk from today, Robert?
H.R. 2499 is "stealth" legislation intended to lead to the admission of Spanish-speaking Puerto Rico as a state by using a two-stage plebiscite process that is rigged in favor of statehood. There is no other excuse to explain why Puerto Ricans have to vote on the issue of statehood again after rejecting it in favor of maintaining their commonwealth status THREE times since 1991.
H.R. 2499 does not require Spanish-speaking Puerto Rico to adopt English as the language of its government before it could become a state. Allowing Puerto Rico become a state without requiring it to make English the language of its government is crazy, and would change the U.S. into a nation divided by language like Canada. Not a good thing!
Great article and thank you for writing it. It is hard to find information on this anywhere.
Thank you for reporting the news. This should be on every main stream media station and newspaper, but sadly it is not. It is another stealth move by Congress that will remain largely ignored by msm. Why wouldn't the potential statehood discussion be common knowledge? When is the public to be informed . . . when they become the 51st state and after all is said and done? Ridiculous. Thanks again Examiner for doing real reporting!
Actually I must disagree with your statement that PR is a full-blown Democracy. The island and it people were never assimilated into mainstream American culture and allowed to grow as a separate entity without congressional representation. The current power grab is just a blanket campaign for support to the progressive agenda where progressivism has been the ruling system for the past 100 yrs. PR has two types of political sectors, Liberal and Liberal light. The commie party bears a green flag. It's the Dem's socialist petri dish.
The free associated state status is a catch-all relationship that is pretty much a colony but can operate without sending federal taxes to the mainland. In PR the Dems campaigned heavily against statehood because joining the union would take away PR's cultural identity. Of course there are other issues at hand but look at the massive 'paro' march last spring. More than 80 percent of the people hold govt jobs, which paralized the entire island. This is what the libs want for mainstream America. This isnot about integrating the island at all. It was the launching pad for their 'change' and it will be expensive. I forgot to thank you for writing about this because it's an obscure topic to most people in the US.
The Commie-crats are desperate for votes because they know they're screwed for overreaching. They'll be spending decades in the minority.
There are 51 RINO's supporting this bill..... Why is it that people will need read a bill and do their job before supporting and lending their name to a bill. A little know rule called the Tennessee rule would make the congress and senate seat legislators that show up from PR. Also, the way they are phrasing the questions for the vote will split the people into three groups. Those who support the status quo which is 25% or so percent, and those who want to have state hood status 40% and those who don't what state hood but wants the benefits not to be cut off30%, so at the end of the day you are going to get a vote probably around election time that paints conservatives as racist if they vote against seating PR
A lot of residents in the island see themselves as Puerto Ricans first, not Americans.
Although I'm sure a lot of them won't have any problems with the increase in federal handouts (PR already gets a lot of federal money for a lot of things), especially the politicians who would have more federal money available to buy votes, and the people who currently enjoy the Tarjeta de la Familia and the WIC plans and all that.
It would also most certainly mean 2 new liberal big government senators, and with about 4 million residents, a bunch of liberal big government representatives in the US House.
The ones who will have a problem with this are the ones who work and produce in PR...when they are forced to pay federal income taxes on top of the PR taxes and SS and Medicare they already pay.
Oh joy...a new IRS office in San Juan right next to the Departamento de Hacienda...yippee
If something is put forward for a vote every 8 years, that is hardly forced. There are plenty of federal funds already in PR. There is not cpmplete democracy in PR. The US will not be anymore forced to have spanish as second language... if PR is brought on as another state at some future date if that is their chosing. Nothing was ever said when Hawaii was brought on but in today's culture it seems that acceptance of anything or anyone new is out. PR is far from new and there are many Puerto Ricans lving all over the US. The enemy is not always everyone else or how things may appear. It is not fully understanding what is going on and what people truly want, not making up their mind for them, and certainly not making up the mind for all of Puerto Rico. That is what the vote will be for every 8 years.... Voting is democracy.
The US needs to let PR go and cede ownership of the island to the PR people. Right now they get privileges with no responsibilities. Throw them out and then let them apply for statehood if they want.
They have no reason to vote for statehood, nor do they have a reason to vote for independence. They like the status quo.
The bill in question does not add any citizens to the US, as puertorricans are already US citizens. It would not even make PR a state. It would, at most, knock the ELA (freely associated state) status from its ginned up perch as the status of choice of the Puertorrican people. While it is true that most puertorricans are native Spanish speakers, most do speak English and English would be teh language of the Courts, business and government. Many are conservatives, such as I, and Puerto Rican issues tend to fall on the socially liberal (more like libertarian) and fiscally conservative. With nearly as many puertorricans in the US, as in the island, the chicken little shrillness of the article reads more like a parody to those who are informed.
Carlos you don't get it. This is being pushed by the Progressive (read radical left) Party in PR. What it will mean is 2 senators and 6 reps from PR - mostly or all Democrats or the Progressives in PR and Dems here wouldn't be pushing it. The idea is to SNEAK AROUND Puerto Rico's stated preference NOT to become a state and make it a state anyway!
The Dems need those 2 senators to break filibusters. It's all about transforming the USA into an hispanic nation. By 2050 we will be anyway. Don't believe it? Check with the census dept.
America WILL become an hispanic nation, just like those hell hole's south of the border. Anyone that doesn't like it should leave.
Puertoricans: prepare yourselves to finally pay taxes!!!
If HR 2499 isn't about rigging the vote, why does it allow US citizens born in Puerto Rico, but living elswhere, the ability to vote in the referendum by absentee ballot? Shouldn't the vote be only for resident citizens of Puerto Rico?
It's a trick!!!
Smoke and mirrors, lies, greed, corruption, need for power for the elitists abound in the Obama regime. Americans are standing up and speaking up
Please alert everyone. In March 2010 Puerto Rico declared all their birth certificates invalid. Making all citizens reapply. This is a formula designed to facilitate voter fraud and illegals there getting free birth certificates!!! NO ONE IS TALKING ABOUT THIS AND THEY NEED TO BEFORE THE VOTE GOES INTO THE SENATE.
www <dot> nydailynews.com/news/politics/2010/04/30/2010-04-30_its_split_decision_on_house_pr_vote <dot> html
The deck is being stacked in favor of obama and if this goes through HE WILL GET A SECOND TERM. The democrats will make the win look extremely close so we don't get upset. They do it every time. MARK MY WORDS OBAMA WILL GET A SECOND TERM.
Unfortunately we are a nation without a spine and will do nothing to stop it. Don't believe me? Have we done anything thus far with all the illegal stuff they have done over the last year and a half? I rest my case.
The PR situation is even worse than we know. Just last month the RINO governor of PR declared all their birth certificates as invalid. The citizens now have to reapply for new birth certificates. The fraudulent excuse he gave was that identity theft was rampant. How convenient that he did this right before a vote of the people for statehood would occur. Could it possibly be because they voted it down three times before? Could he possibly be stacking the deck so they can defeat the will of the people by not allowing them to vote? Could it possibly be that he is also opening the door for millions of illegals to now apply for free birth certificates? I think it is possible.
He is one of the worst RINO's than we have ever seen here in the states. He supports everything obamacorn is about and is vocal about it. He wants to help obama get a second term, and this is all part of his plan.
I cannot believe that I am the only one talking about this.
I have completed the research on this saga and completed and audio documentary titled 'United States Plus One' - The Prospect of Puerto Rico as the 51st State - at Solid Principles dot com website - The amount of misinformation about this issue is overwhelming.
Questions: If this is gerrymandering for the Democrats, why did so many of them vote against HR.2499 including 2 of the 3 PR's in congress?
If Hawaii is Bi-lingual, why was did their inclusion into the union not turn American into a Bi-Lingual nation?
How is Puerto Rico with a Republican Governor, Republican majority in the PR House and Republican PR Senate seen as a Democratic stronghold?
I have a very good friend from Puerto Rico who has told me many times that Puerto Rico does not want statehood. The citizens believe they are better off not being a state. New subject for me, will have to do more investigating.
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