Here’s an update about the world famous act in Puerto Rico known as HR2499. There is a move to push the country Puerto Rico to become the 51st state in the United States. Known as “HR 2499? or the “Puerto Rico Democracy Act”, the bill is opposed by a lot of Puerto Ricans.
Puerto Rico is a self-governing unincorporated territory of the United States located in the northeastern Caribbean Sea, east of the Dominican Republic and west of the Virgin Islands. Since 1970, HR 2499 has been opposed by Puerto Ricans three times already.
HR 2499 has both its pros and cons for both Americans and Puerto Ricans. For one, this Puerto Rico Democracy Act lets Puerto Ricans continue to enjoy their commonwealth status which allows them to enjoy the protection and freedoms and even financial benefits of the United States without paying federal income taxes.
However, there are also problems if this HR 2499 bill will be pushed through making Puerto Rico a full state of the US. The first is that of creating a bilingual country with the addition of an almost completely Spanish-speaking state. I mean how many people from Puerto Rico can really speak English?
Second is the problem of reassigning some seats in the U.S. House of Representatives to Puerto Ricans. This means that there will be some states who gets deprived of the seat because of the congressionally-mandated 435 seat cap.
First of all there are not lots of Puerto Ricans that oppose HR 2499. On three other occasions, since 1970, there have been other plebiscites and by looking at the results they look as if a change of the system was rejected. In PR politics are not as simple as they are in the stated, they are a bit more complicated.
Take HR 2499. The leadership of the PPD talked a Representative from North Carolina to present an amendment to include a “Territorial ELA” (the present colonial system) as an alternative in the second round of vote where it does not belong. It does not belong there for two very basic reasons.
1) the very first vote on the plebiscite give the people the choice to keep the ELA as is – which would have cancel the second vote according to HR 2499.
The leadership was afraid that the vote was going to be YES for change and was able to talk a naive Representative from North Carolina to introduce Amendment #1 which was approved.
2) The ELA, as is a colonial/territorial system, was included as an alternative in a vote that was supposed to be a vote for a NON-Territorial/Colonial system
The stupidity and ignorance of every one that voted for this amendment first and to approve HR 2499 made the Bill a waste of time and money. This particular plebiscite will take us NOWHERE if the ELA is not define as to how it will become a Non-Territoria/Colonial system.
As to a bilingual state, do not worry about it, the nation today is becoming more bilingual everyday and as to how many in Puerto Rico speak English, a heck of a lot.
As to the 6 or 7 seats that will have to be added to the House , again, do not worry they will have to add the seats. There is nothing in the Constitution that limit the seats to 435. Remember, what Congress makes, Congress can change and they will have to change their self impose number.