A U.S. Congressional Research Service report may undermine the position on Puerto Rico's status held by one of the island's two main political parties, according to an opposition party leader.
At issue is whether Puerto Rico's current designation as a "commonwealth" raises the island's status above that of other U.S. territories.
Puerto Rico's Popular Democratic Party, which has held the governorship and the majority in the island's House and Senate for the last four years, has argued that it does. The New Progressive Party, which is taking control of the three branches of government following the election, has argued that it doesn't.
The Congressional Research
The new report "is the latest federal blow to the already generally discredited idea of a 'commonwealth status,'" said Resident Commissioner-Elect Jenniffer Gonzalez Col-n in a written statement. NPP member Gonzalez Col-n will be sworn in as Puerto Rico's nonvoting representative in the U.S. Congress in January.
The PDP has argued that since 1952 Puerto Rico has held a special status in the United States, more than a territory even if it is not a state. Many party members have supported efforts to get the United States to enhance its status further, without granting statehood.
The Congressional Research Service report notes that the fiscal year 2014 omnibus appropriations law included $2.5 million for voter education about and a plebiscite on Puerto Rico's political status. "These plebiscite-education funds remains available until expended, but Congress placed conditions on their release that appear to exclude the 'enhanced commonwealth' status option as a choice on the ballot," report author R. Sam Garrett wrote.
Garrett noted that in 2010 Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee Chair Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.) and Ranking Member Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) wrote a letter to Pres. Obama saying that an enhanced commonwealth status "is incompatible with the Constitution and basic laws of the United States in several respects."
The federal introduction this summer of an oversight board that can override local government decisions and the PDP's electoral defeat in November have led to ferment in the party's leadership as to what to advocate for the island's status. The party plans to discuss the topic at a party conference in February.
Staff at the Popular Democratic Party didn't respond to a request for comment on Friday.
