(Dmytro “Henry” Aleksandrov, Headline USA) Reps. Alexandria Ocasio–Cortez, D-N.Y.; Nydia Velázquez, D-N.Y.; and Steny Hoyer, D-Md., want to push the Puerto Rico Status Act, which would grant Puerto Ricans the “double benefits of independence and U.S. citizenship for life,” according to The Federalist.
A draft of the bill claimed it would “enable the people of Puerto Rico to choose a permanent, nonterritorial, fully self-governing political status for Puerto Rico and to provide for a transition to and the implementation of that permanent, nonterritorial, fully self-governing political status.”
On July 13, the most widely circulated newspaper in Puerto Rico, El Nuevo Dia, said that Democrats and the federal legislators of Puerto Rico had worked together on hashing out the details.
“Democratic leadership and Puerto Rican Federal legislators reached a final agreement last night on the bill that will be introduced in the House of Representatives to propose a Federal plebiscite between statehood, free association and independence,” it said, according to The Federalist.
Puerto Rico has three possible options: statehood, independence or independence with “free association” with the United States.
The Federated States of Micronesia, the Republic of Palau and the Republic of the Marshall Islands have the latter status, but the United States did not provide these nations the independence option that would also allow them to be U.S. citizens.
If the bill were passed, more than 3 million Puerto Ricans will be citizens of both Puerto Rico and the United States, which would allow them to have all of the benefits of being an American citizen without paying a dime in taxes to the American government.
A U.S.-taxpayer-backed “education” campaign to persuade Puerto Ricans to support the plan would also be provided by the bill.
In a May press conference, Velázquez claimed that the bill “authorizes the necessary funds to carry out a non-partisan voter education campaign and a national plebiscite and if necessary, a run-off plebiscite.”
If the bill passes Congress, a plebiscite vote in Puerto Rico will be on Nov. 5, 2023. If the majority consensus is not reached, the status of Puerto Rico would be decided during a March 2024 runoff election.
So far, there have been no hearings on this bill.
“If its citizens so choose, it’s fine for the United States to grant Puerto Rico its independence, but the bill’s overly gratuitous combination of independence plus U.S. dollars and citizenship is another example of Democrats prioritizing other interests when they should be combatting their own self-made crises at home,” wrote The Federalist’s Elise McCue.
Democrats, desperate to secure permanent political majorities for themselves through any means necessary, attempted a similar campaign last year to demand statehood for Washington, D.C., despite the fact that the nation’s capitol is constitutionally prohibited from such a measure.
