Hoyer, a Maryland Democrat, filed the resolution on the first day of the 113th Congress Thursday, when Resident Commissioner Pedro Pierluisi was sworn in for a second term as Puerto Rico’s lone representative in Congress.

Hoyer’s proposal would cover Puerto Rico, the District of Columbia, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands and American Samoa.

“It is vital that we listen to the voices of the five million Americans represented by the delegates and the resident commissioner in the House of Representatives,” Hoyer said.

Pierluisi saw his participation in the U.S. House pared under a Republican move to strip power from nonvoting territorial delegates in Congress after the GOP seized control of the lower chamber in the 201o midterms. One of the first acts of the Republican-controlled House on was to take away the floor voting rights of six delegates representing Puerto Rico, the District of Columbia, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands and American Samoa.

When House Committee of the Whole expired in January 2011 when the 112th Congress was sworn in, the lower chamber’s first order of business under House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) was the adoption of its House Rrules and one of the many changes the new Republican leadership implement was to strip the D.C. and the U.S. territories the power to vote in the Committee of the Whole. That move was not altered when the 113^th Congress was convened on Thursday.“By changing the House rules to silence these voices in the 112^th Congress, and again in the new Congress, the Republicans in the lower chamber have done damage to our great traditions of the politics of inclusion and the democratic principle of the common good,” Hoyer said.

The lack of voting power raises the problems of lesser funding going to the territories, including Puerto Rico, since most appropriation bills are taken up by the House as a Committee of the Whole. The vote was crucial for Puerto Rico’s broad funding gains under the American Recovery & Reinvestment Act, which pumped some $7 billion in additional federal moneys into the island. It also strengthened Pierluisi’s hand in pressing for Puerto Rico’s participation in the national health reform passed by President Obama.

Pierluisi said passage of Hoyer’s measure would “send a message of inclusion to our voters.”

The resident commissioner said the election day status plebiscite in Puerto Rico showed that island voters support statehood over any other status option.

Pierluisi and four of the other delegates are Democrats, while one, from the Northern Marianas Islands, is an independent.

The GOP decision to rescind the ability of delegates to vote on amendments on the House floor was the predictable outcome of a longtime party divide. Democrats extended the voting rights in 1993 when they controlled the House, Republicans disenfranchised the delegates when they became the majority in 1995 and Democrats restored delegate rights when they regained control of the House in 2007.

The partisan battle has always been as much about political symbolism as the actual ability of delegates to influence national policy. Under the Democrats, delegates could vote on the floor on amendments — in what is known as the Committee of the Whole — but not on final passage. And their votes came with the stipulation that they could not change the outcome of a vote.

Delegates do have full voting rights at the committee level and can rise through the committee ranks.

Republicans have long argued that the Constitution, which says the House should be made up of representatives chosen by the “several states,” rules out voting by non-state delegates.

Republicans also point out that delegate votes violate the concept of equal representation. The average constituency for the 435 House representatives is about 700,000. While Puerto Rico has a population of almost 4 million and the District of Columbia 600,000, the other four, all territories, are considerably smaller. American Samoa has 95,000 residents, and The Northern Marianas 48,000.

But Democrats counter that, when Republicans sued to reverse the 1993 extension of voting rights, two federal courts ruled that Congress had acted within constitutional bounds. They also point out that the delegates represent U.S. citizens who serve in the military and are fighting and dying in Iraq and Afghanistan.

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HA=Esta tarde escuche a Cucusa Hernandez en un programa de notiuno decir que el congreso estaba considerando la idea de poner a pagar contribuciones federales a los territorios, alguien sabe algo de esta info. Y cual es la fuente???
En el Plebiscito del 1967 LMM prometió desarrollar al ELA para pagar contribuciones federales seguramente a cambio de ser iguales en todos los programas federales.

Pompy=Estudios del Congreso han establecido que en un periodo corto, de Puerto Rico pagar contribuciones federales y recibir todos los beneficios, al principio Puerto Rico se beneficiaria en mayor proporción, pero luego sería Money Neutral.
Lo que se anuncio en el Congreso fue concederle el voto a los Comisionados Residentes por el líder de la Minoría (Demócrata), pero esto si es como un paso a la Estadidad.
John Adams y Thomas Jefferson dijeron en el 1782 que Puerto Rico debería formar parte del Territorio Americano. Todos los Presidentes han prometido hacer a Puerto Rico un Estado al pueblo solicitarlo. Ya lo solicitamos por una Super-Mayoría del 61%+, pero hay que reconocer que los PPD ganaron y trataran de detener el proceso. Lo único razonable que podría hacer el PPD es favorecer la Ley del Plebiscito, porque si no lo hace, el Congreso le impondrá un termino que no debe ser de mas de 60 días (llevan 6 décadas pensándolo) para presentar sus propuestas y que el Congreso las apruebe.
Todo esto coincide conque los EUA necesitan reunificar Norte, Sur, Centro y el Caribe para crear el Bloque Comercial de Las Américas, y solo lo podrán logra si hacen a Puerto Rico Estado.
Por eso la estrategia del Comisionado Pedro Pierluissi es tan razonable y realizable.
Por esas cosa de la vida, los Estadistas nos unimos cuando no estamos en el poder, y los PPD/Izq se desunen cuando están en el poder.
Pompy https://estado51prusa.com/