Puerto Rico's overseers in the U.S. House of Representatives have called for a new plebiscite on statehood for the territory.
Leaders of the Natural Resources Committee, which oversees U.S. territories, sent a letter to U.S. Acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker on Monday urging him to aid Puerto Rico’s local government “in certifying a plebiscite that will allow for the resolution of Puerto Rico’s century-old territorial status.”
In a separate letter to Gov. Ricardo Rosselló, Senate President Thomas Rivera Schatz, and House Speaker Carlos Méndez, the same writers said the plebiscite should simply ask: “Statehood: Yes or No?”
Puerto Rico is currently under the budgetary control of the Puerto Rico Oversight Board, following the dictates of the Puerto Rico Oversight, Management, and Economic Stability Act. It is unclear if Puerto Rico could simultaneously be a state and have its government answer to a federally appointed oversight board.
Statehood would mean the end of the territory’s ability to issue triple-tax exempt bonds.
Leaders of the local parties have said that statehood would have a significant impact on the island’s economy, though whether they say it would be positive or negative depends on whether they are members of the pro-statehood New Progressive Party.
Rosselló and Resident Commissioner Jenniffer Gonzalez Colón are members of the New Progressive Party.
Gonzalez Colón, U.S. House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Rob Bishop, U.S. House Natural Resources Committee Ranking Minority Member Raúl Grijalva, and committee Chairman Emeritus Don Young signed both letters.
The island has had several plebiscites on the island’s status since World War II, with the most recent ones in 2012 and 2017. In these 61% and 97%, respectively, of those voting on the statehood questions voted in favor of it.
However, the primary opposition party, the Popular Democratic Party, said that the wording on both ballots was created without their input by New Progressive Party governors and was unfair. Both the PDP and the Puerto Rico Independence Party urged their followers to boycott the 2017 referendum, saying its language was unfair.
The U.S. Department of Justice declined to provide congressionally approved financial support for the 2017 referendum, citing needs to change the referendum’s language.
In their letter to Puerto Rico’s local leaders, the Washington leaders said, “Puerto Rico’s territorial and unequal status has been a substantial factor in many of the island’s economic and budgetary challenges, and as such we should do everything needed to prevent its continuation.”
The letters are an acknowledgment of the failure of the last two plebiscites to lead to federal action, said Puerto Rico House Minority Leader Rafael Hernández Montañez. Hernández Montañez is a member of the PDP, which supports continuing the current “commonwealth” status, which in PROMESA the U.S. Congress treated as U.S. territorial status.
Bishop, a Republican, will no longer chair the committee in January, when the new Congress is sworn in, Hernández Montañez said. The letters are attempts by the three of the four of the signees who are Republican to save face in the eyes of Puerto Ricans, he said.
Hernández Montañez said his party could neither support nor oppose the letters. If Congress passed new legislation on Puerto Rico’s status, his party could consider offering its support.
