WASHINGTON - Puerto Rico Gov. Alejandro García Padilla's administration is pressing for Congress to stop focusing on the question of Puerto Rico's statehood and instead shift its energy to giving the island territory access to Chapter 9 bankruptcy powers that existin the states.
The push for a change of perspective came in response to a hearing held Wednesday in the House Committee on Natural Resources' Subcommittee on Indian, Insular and Alaska Native Affairs that was scheduled to hear testimony on a bill introduced that would implement a system for Puerto Ricans to determine their territory's political future.
Rep. Don Young, R-Alaska, who chairs the subcommittee, scheduled the hearing earlier this month to examine the relationship between the island's status as a U.S. territory and its severe economic struggles. Rep. Pedro Pierluisi, a Democrat who serves as Puerto Rico's non-voting member of Congress, has introduced legislation that would authorize a U.S. sponsored vote to be held in Puerto Rico within one year of its enactment. It would ask one question of the territory's populace: whether Puerto Rico should become a state.
Statehood would make Puerto Rico eligible for billions of dollars in additional annual federal funding. However, Puerto Rico's bonds would probably no longer be tax-exempt in all 50 states as they currently are. Votes of this kind are not new to the territory. In the most recent vote held in 2012, which was not federally sponsored and therefore not binding, the populace narrowly voted to change the current political status of the island. There were also votes in 1967, 1991, 1993, and in 1998, but voters did not choose any option that would lead to a change in its commonwealth status.
"I don't seek special, different or unique treatment," Pierluisi told the panel. "I don't ask to be treated any better than the states, but I won't accept being treated any worse either. I want only for Puerto Rico to be treated equally. Give us the same rights and opportunities as our fellow American citizens, and let us rise or fall based on our own merits. Because I know that we will rise."
The resident commissioner specifically argued granting statehood to Puerto Rico would curb the mass exodus of intelligent workers to the U.S. mainland in search of full rights that can be found in the 50 states. The decreasing population has led to a declining tax base as the territory faces $73 billion in debt and a looming threat of default.
Several officials representing Puerto Rico interests criticized the hearing on the statehood bill taking place, arguing the answer to the island's economic woes ultimately lies in giving Puerto Rico's government-owned utilities access to Chapter 9 bankruptcy powers that many subdivisions in the states currently have. Pierluisi has pursued this course through a different House bill.
César Miranda, Puerto Rico's attorney general, centered his testimony on Chapter 9 powers while speaking on behalf ofthe governor.. He said the island is in a "truly dire" situation and a "state of fiscal emergency," that would not be best helped with a push toward statehood. The attorney general instead asked Congress to solely pursue granting bankruptcy authorization rights to the island.
"We have the capabilities to come across and bring the island to a brighter condition," Miranda said. "We need to have an instrument to deal with the debt that we are carrying now. That is why we support extending Chapter 9 to Puerto Rico."
Juan E. Hernández, director of the Puerto Rico Federal Affairs Administration, was not present at the hearing, but released a separate statement pushing for an exclusive focus on the bankruptcy powers.
"Congress has the power to offer real solutions to problems that affect millions of Puerto Ricans. It is disappointing that at this time of crisis, when Congress has under consideration a bill that Puerto Rico urgently needs, they would rather focus on a debate that's been ongoing since 1898," Hernández said.
The Puerto Rican Senate is currently considering the territory's budget that already passed the island's House on Monday. The budget includes austerity measures to improve Puerto Rico's fiscal health.
