Friday, April 12, 2013

Puerto Rico Status Vote Proposed By White House The Huffington Post | By Roque Planas

April 12, 2013

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Puerto Rico Status Vote Proposed

By White House

The Huffington Post | By Roque Planas Posted: 04/10/2013 7:39 pm EDT | Updated: 04/11/2013 2:15 pm EDT

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4.12.13: Puerto Rico Report Review: President Proposes Plebiscite to Affirm Puerto Rico’s Status Choice

New Poll Shows Puerto Ricans Want Statehood

Posted on April 12, 2013

A Suffolk University poll found that 70% of Puerto Rican voters prefer statehood over other possible status options. Suffolk University partnered with Universidad del Turabo to poll likely voters in the wake of the White House budget which provides funding for a federally sanctioned vote on the status question.

The poll found that 13% of respondents would choose independence, more than twice as many as in the November 2012 vote. 13% were undecided among the possible options, and a resounding 70% chose statehood — even more than the 61% who did so in November. The poll did not include any other specific status options — perhaps because the various definitions of “commonwealth” are not clear enough to use in a poll at this time or the option’s long and established rejectionby federal authorities – but did include the option of the status quo.

“This finding has historic and political implications beyond the composition of our flag,” said David Paleologos, director of the Suffolk University Political Research Center in Boston. “[T]he impact of these numbers on the political conversation should not be ignored.”

While the poll did not ask why the respondents preferred statehood, there are clues in the fact that 58% said that Puerto Rico is “on the wrong track.” Drug trafficking, economic troubles, poor quality infrastructure, and public safety all were listed as serious problems by respondents, with the majority saying these matters were being handled badly in Puerto Rico right now.

Health care was the only ray of light: two thirds of those polled felt positive about the quality of health care available to them.

Most of the respondents described themselves as unaffiliated with any political party. Among those with an affiliation, the PNP was the largest group, followed by the PPD. There were a few members of the Independence Party as well. A wide range of ages and household incomes was represented.

Here were answers to specific questions on the status issue:

Thinking about Puerto Rico’s relationship with the United States, do you think that relationships should change, or should the status quo be preserved?
- change: 56%
- status quo: 37%
- undecided/refused: 7%
If the United States Congress allowed the citizens of Puerto Rico to choose between independence and statehood, what would you choose?
- statehood: 70%
- independence: 13%
- undecided/refused: 17%

The raw data may be seen in PDF form.

Puerto Rico Report

FRI APRIL 12^TH, 2013

people

Olga Tanon Endorses Statehood

Merengue music icon Olga Tanon has endorsed statehood for Puerto Rico. See her Univision interview on Al Punto with Jorge Ramos
below.

Tanon called for the status of Puerto Rico to be decided as soon as possible. “We are the only colony in the universe,” she said.
Asked whether she would prefer statehood, independence or Free Associated State, Talon replied, “With all the sincerity in the world, state 51.”
Tanon, a Grammy winning artist, was born in and grew up in Puerto Rico.

Puerto Rico Report

FRI APRIL 12^TH, 2013

JEFF FARROW

history

polling

Most in Poll Oppose New Gov’s Policies

A majority of Puerto Ricans oppose the policies of the territory’s new “commonwealth” party governor, according to a major poll published today.
In addition to 56% opposing Alejandro Garcia Padilla’s program, the Governor gets poor marks on job performance.
The head of the statehood party, Pedro Pierluisi (D), Puerto Rico’s sole representative in the Federal government with a vote in committees of the U.S. House of Representatives, got significantly better ratings in the survey.
Forty-six percent of those polled disapproved of Garcia’s job performance compared with only 34% in Pierluisi’s case. Only 30% approved of the work that Garcia has done compared with 36% for Pierluisi.
The way that Garcia has gone about his job was only supported by 57% of his own “commonwealth” party members. Only 42% of independents were happy with it.
Asked to grade Garcia’s job performance, 37% gave it a “D” or an “F” and only 33% an “A” or a “B.” Pierluisi got an “A” or “B” from 37% and a “D” or “F” from only 26%.
Forty percent said that Garcia had been a worse governor than they expected. Only 12% said he was better.
Twelve percent also said that Pierluisi — who is serving his second four-year term — had done better than they expected this year. But only 19% said that his performance had been worse.
Public trust is a major weakness for Garcia. Only 33% of those polled said that he was truthful, with 50% saying he is not. Forty-six percent aid that they do not trust him in general as governor.
Garcia was elected last November with 47.73% of the vote, a bare .7% over then incumbent Luis Fortuno (statehood party/R), who ran on a ticket with Pierluisi.
Pierluisi was re-elected with more votes than Garcia got, and 48.44% of the vote.
The poll was conducted for El Nuevo Dia newspaper, the
island’s most influential news media.

Puerto Rico Report

FRI APRIL 12^TH, 2013

history

Pierluisi Praises White House Budget Proposal to Resolve Puerto Rico’s Future Political Status

Puerto Rican Resident Commissioner Pedro Pierluisi (D/Statehood) has released a statement commending President Obama for including a $2.5 million appropriations request to fund the first federally-sponsored status vote in Puerto Rico’s history.
“Today is an historic day for all of us who have been fighting for equality and justice for Puerto Rico. The White House has recognized that, on November 6, 2012, a majority of the U.S. citizens of Puerto Rico withdrew their consent to the current territory status, which deprives them of the most fundamental democratic rights,” announced Pierluisi.
Pierluisi specifically endorsed two aspects of the budget language, which directs the federal funding to the Puerto Rico State Elections Commission to be used to conduct “objective, nonpartisan voter education” and a federally-sponsored vote on “options that would resolve Puerto Rico’s future political status.” First, Pierluisi explained that the emphasis to ”resolve Puerto Rico’s future political status” is of critical importance because “Puerto Rico cannot resolve its future status by maintaining the same undemocratic and undignified territory status that our people have endured for 115 years and that they soundly rejected in the November 2012 plebiscite.” He added that the “only way to resolve the Island’s future political status is through statehood or national sovereignty—either full independence or nationhood in free association with the United States.”
Pierluisi also noted that the budget text requires the contents of the plebiscite ballot and all voter education materials prepared by the Commission to be approved by the U.S. Attorney General to ensure that they are “not incompatible with the Constitution and basic laws and policies of the United States.” He explained that this language “can be interpreted in only one way, namely as excluding the impossible status proposals that the Popular Democratic Party has put forward over the years, and that have been declared unworkable as a matter of both law and policy by every federal official who has examined those proposals, including the President’s Task Force on Puerto Rico’s Status in its March 2011 report.”
The Pierluisi press release called the President’s budget “a significant and natural next step” in light of the White House statement that followed the November 2012 plebiscite, which confirmed that: “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 it is 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.”
Pierluisis has committed to introduce Puerto Rico self determination legislation in mid-May after receivng recommendations from the New Progressive Party’s status commission.
Resident Commissioner Pedro Pierluisi was not the only member of the House of Representative to announce a position on the budget langauge today. Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-MD), the House Democratic Whip, also issued a statement in support of the provision. He said: “I am pleased that President Obama has included in his budget a request to conduct the first federally-sponsored status vote in Puerto Rico’s history, responding to the November plebiscite held in Puerto Rico where voters rejected the current territory status and expressed a desire for statehood. I look forward to working with Resident Commissioner Pierluisi to enact this appropriations request into law so that the people of Puerto Rico can resolve the status question.”
Rep. Edward Markey (D-MA), the Ranking Member of the House Committee on Natural Resources, also explained: “I fully support President Obama’s request for a $2.5 million appropriation to conduct a federally-sponsored political status vote in Puerto Rico, which would be the first in the territory’s history and which I hope will finally bring resolution to this longstanding issue. The President’s request is an appropriate response to the interest that a majority of the U.S. citizens who live in Puerto Rico have expressed about the desirability of changing their island’s current political status. In a vote held last November, a majority of Puerto Ricans made it clear that they did not support continuing Puerto Rico’s current status as a Commonwealth. More voters expressed a preference for statehood than for any other status option. I agree with President Obama that the appropriate next step to take following this vote is for a formal plebiscite in Puerto Rico on the various options that would resolve the Island’s political status. I pledge to work with the President, Resident Commissioner Pierluisi, and my colleagues in the House in an effort to enact this appropriations request into law.”

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Puerto Rico Report

FRI APRIL 12^TH, 2013

JEFF FARROW

history

politics

President Proposes Plebiscite to Affirm Puerto Rico’s Status Choice

President Obama today sent Congress legislation for another plebiscite in Puerto Rico to resolve the question of the territory’s future status.
The proposal was included in President Obama’s Fiscal Year 2014 Budget. It proposes $2.5 million for the Puerto Rico Elections Commission to be used for voter education and the plebiscite. The funds could be used only after the Attorney General of the United States has found a Commission plan that includes education materials and ballot options to be consistent with the Constitution and basic laws and policies of the United States.
The Commission has equal representation from each of Puerto Rico’s political parties, with a president appointed by its governor. For the status plebiscite under local law last November, the membership was increased to include representatives of each of status option.
A similar appropriation was proposed by President Clinton and enacted into law by the Republican Congress in 2000 for a Puerto Rican status choice in 2001. It was not spent because the funds lapsed before a plan was developed.
The President’s proposal responds to a plebiscite that the territorial government held under local law last November. That vote rejected Puerto Rico’s current territory status by 54% and cast ballots for statehood by more than 61% among the alternatives to territory status.
The legislation recognizes that advocates of an unprecedented “commonwealth” status narrowly won elections last November to dominate the territory’s government, that these officials have disputed last November’s plebiscite, and that they could get opponents to block legislation to implement the November plebiscite’s results.
The President’s plebiscite under Federal auspices would affirm the self-determination will of Puerto Ricans and be one that local “commonwealth” supporters would not be able to dispute.
The “commonwealth” status that these politicians have proposed would, among other unprecedented measures, exempt Puerto Rico from congressional governing authority under the Territory Clause of the U.S. Constitution. Obama’s Justice Department and Task Force on Puerto Rico’s Status, like those of previous presidential administrations and congressional authorities, have said that is impossible: any “Commonwealth” governing arrangement would subject Puerto Rico to Territory Clause powers.
The President’s proposal also effectively takes plans of pro-”commonwealth” territorial officials to call a “constitutional assembly” to adopt their proposed new “commonwealth” status next year off the table. They will not be able to have such an assembly with credibility with the President of the United States saying that the process should be a plebiscite with only territory, statehood, independence, and nationhood in a free association with the U.S. as possible options.
The options for the President’s proposal do not need to include territory status, since the 2012 plebiscite rejected that status. It only requires that the proposals be constitutional ones proposed by Puerto Rico.
The United States took Puerto Rico from Spain in connection with the Spanish-American War and Puerto Ricans have been granted U.S. citizenship since 1917. But whether the territory will eventually become a State or a nation has not yet been finally determined.
The island home of 3.7 million people has been granted the exercise of self-governing authority similar to that possessed by the States but Puerto Ricans are only represented in the Federal government by a resident commissioner who has a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives with a vote only in committees.
In a March 2011 report, the President’s Task Force on Puerto Rico’s Status found that the island’s economic 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.
The Task Force also advised, as it did under President Bush, that Puerto Ricans should vote to determine their aspirations among the legally possible options for Puerto Rico’s status.
See the actual text of the Puerto Rico provision in the President’s budget here.

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Puerto Rico Report

FRI APRIL 12^TH, 2013

JEFF FARROW

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history

Key Leaders of Congress Back Obama Status Resolution Plan

Key congressional leaders quickly endorsed President Obama’s proposal today of $2.5 million for public education and a plebiscite in Puerto Rico to resolve the question of the territory’s future political status.
The White House previously noted that a plebiscite under local law last November rejected the current territory status and chose statehood among the possible alternatives. Its proposal today recognized that advocates of an unprecedented “commonwealth” status narrowly won control of Puerto Rico’s insular government in November and would appeal to extremist opponents of equality for Puerto Ricans as Americans to block legislation in Congress based on the local plebiscite alone.
Announcing their support for a plebiscite under Federal auspices to confirm the status aspirations of Puerto Ricans were: the chairman of the U.S. Senate committee with jurisdiction over territories issues, Ron Wyden (D-OR); House of Representatives Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-MD); the most senior Democratic member of the House committee with jurisdiction over territories legislation, Ed Markey (MA); and Jose Serrano (D-NY), a senior member of the House Appropriations Committee, which will have jurisdiction over the Obama proposal, and the most senior member of Congress of Puerto Rican origin.
The Obama proposal was also embraced by Puerto Rico’s sole representative to the Federal government, Resident Commissioner Pedro Pierluisi (statehood-D), who has a seat in the House of Representatives but can only vote in House committees on which he serves.
Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee Chairman Wyden said that ”The results of Puerto Rico’s November status plebiscite indicated a significant trend against the current territorial relationship and towards statehood. I am pleased that President Obama has requested an appropriation to give the voters of Puerto Rico a chance to affirm those results in a federally-sponsored plebiscite. I look forward to working with the President, my Senate colleagues, and with the Appropriations Committee to enact this request into law and to continuing the process toward resolution of Puerto Rico’s future political status.”
House Minority Whip Hoyer’s statement was: “I am pleased that President Obama has included in his budget a request to conduct the first federally-sponsored status vote in Puerto Rico’s history, responding to the November plebiscite held in Puerto Rico where voters rejected the current territory status and expressed a desire for statehood. I look forward to working with Resident Commissioner Pierluisi to enact this appropriations request into law so that the people of Puerto Rico can resolve the status question.”
House Natural Resources Committee Ranking Minority Member Markey said that “I fully support President Obama’s request for a $2.5 million appropriation to conduct a federally-sponsored political status vote in Puerto Rico, which would be the first in the territory’s history and which I hope will finally bring resolution to this longstanding issue. The President’s request is an appropriate response to the interest that a majority of the U.S. citizens who live in Puerto Rico have expressed about the desirability of changing their island’s current political status. In a vote held last November, a majority of Puerto Ricans made it clear that they did not support continuing Puerto Rico’s current status as a Commonwealth. More voters expressed a preference for statehood than for any other status option. I agree with President Obama that the appropriate next step to take following this vote is for a formal plebiscite in Puerto Rico on the various options that to resolve the Island’s political status. I pledge to work with the President, Resident Commissioner Pierluisi, and my colleagues in the House in an effort to enact this appropriation request into law.”
House Appropriations Committee Member Serrano’s statement was “I am pleased that the President’s budget has prioritized funding for a referendum on permanent and Constitutional status options for Puerto Rico. No one should object to a process that leads to a definitive statement by the Puerto Rican people on their future status—and a process that asks them to choose among only constitutionally-viable, non-colonial options. I look forward to supporting this funding request through my seat on the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice and Science, and later seeing it implemented in a timely manner.”
The plebiscite would be on options proposed by Puerto Rico’s Elections Commission, which has representation for all sides in balloting in Puerto Rico but finally determined by the Attorney General of the United States. The Attorney General would have to find that the ballot options and official explanations of the options were not inconsistent with the Constitution, laws, and policies of the United States.
The standard would rule out the unprecedented “commonwealth” proposal advocated by Puerto Rico’s new governor and legislature majority.
The new governor and legislature majority have proposed that Puerto Rico not be subject to the broad governing authority of Congress over territories under their new “commonwealth” status proposal. But President Obama’s Task Force on Puerto Rico’s Status, like past Federal administrations of both national political parties, has stated that Puerto Rico would remain subject to Congress’ constitutional Territory Clause authority under any “commonwealth” unless Puerto Rico becomes a State or a nation.

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HADENINTERACTIVE

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people

Serrano Reacts to Puerto Rico Status in Obama Budget

Washington, DC – April 10, 2013 – After reviewing the outlines of the President’s budget proposal for 2014, Congressman Serrano reacted to the inclusion of funds for a Puerto Rico status process with the following statement.
“I am pleased that the President’s budget has prioritized funding for a referendum on permanent and Constitutional status options for Puerto Rico. No one should object to a process that leads to a definitive statement by the Puerto Rican people on their future status—and a process that asks them to choose among only constitutionally-viable, non-colonial options. I look forward to supporting this funding request through my seat on the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice and Science, and later seeing it implemented in a timely manner.”
Congressman José E. Serrano has represented The Bronx in Congress since 1990.
This was not the first time Rep. Serrano commented about the condition of his birthplace. At a 2007 hearing of the House Subcommittee on Insular Affairs, he affirmed:

I will not rest until the colony is gone. It served a purpose for a long time perhaps, and I give credit to those who took it from where it was to where it is. But it was never the intention of the founders of the commonwealth to keep it as a permanent condition, and it is a condition. So I find myself today in a unique situation, a situation similar or identical to what [Representative] Nydia [Velasquez (D-NY)] finds herself in. We were both born in the colony, and now we serve in the Congress of the power that holds the colony. As a Puerto Rican, I don’t want my birthplace to be a colony. As an American Congressman, I think it is indecent that my country has colonies in 2007. And this must end.

Congressman Serrano has also issued statements about the Enhanced Commonwealth political status option championed by some in Puerto Rico, discounting the possibility that Puerto Ricans will never be able to achieve the new rights and privileges offered under this option. He has explained that “no one in Puerto Rico supports the present status. When they say they support commonwealth, they support a new commonwealth, which I call a letter to the Three Kings or a letter to Santa Claus. Because it says let me be a state, but let me be an independent nation; let me change, but not change. Does Puerto Rico deserve that after 109 years of colonialism? Absolutely. And I would vote for it. Can any Member of Congress outside of three or four of us vote for that? Absolutely not. Because as it was said here, if you go back to your district, somebody is going to ask you that Sunday morning in church, what was it that you gave Puerto Rico that you can’t give my district. And that is the problem, that it is not realistic.”

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FRI APRIL 12^TH, 2013

Obama proposes new plebiscite on status for Puerto Rico - VOXXI

Obama proposes new plebiscite on status for Puerto Rico
VOXXI
“Today is a historic day for all of us that fight for equality and justice for Puerto Rico,” Pierluisi said in a statement. “The White House recognizes that in Nov. 6 the majority of American citizens inPuerto Rico revoked their consent to continue ...

puerto rico - Google News