will Puerto Rico ever become a state or an independent nation?
NEWS
Bill Keveney
After Hurricane Fiona,
Devastating infrastructure failure in Puerto Rico after a Hurricane Fiona has raised the question of governmental status of the U.S. territory whose residents can’t vote for president or for voting members of Congress.
More than 1 million customers remained without electricity, and nearly half of a major water authority's customers lacked running water in the aftermath of Hurricane Fiona.
The island's fragile power grid and infrastructure result from a lack of political power because of inadequate governmental representation, critics say.
This year, House Democrats introduced a bill that would give Puerto Rico residents, who are U.S. citizens, a self-determination vote. Proposed changes include statehood or independence.
The island has a nonvoting member of Congress but no voting representatives or senators, as states have.
Puerto Rico has given its residents the opportunity to express their opinion on the island's governmental status, holding various nonbinding votes on its relationship to the United States.
of voters said they favored Puerto Rico becoming a state.
52.3%
In a 2020 ballot measure that asked a single question about statehood,
Jenniffer Gonzalez-Colon, Puerto Rico's nonvoting congressional representative and an advocate for statehood, sees "a direct connection" between Puerto Rico's governmental status and its frayed infrastructure.
— Jenniffer Gonzalez-Colon, Puerto Rico's nonvoting congressional representative and an advocate for statehood
Puerto Rico, as a territory of the United States, needs to comply with a lot of federal laws. But we do not receive the same resources as a state, and that means that this economic situation on the island, where you have a 47% of poverty rate, it's higher than any other state.
Puerto Rican legislators and its governor, Pedro Pierluisi, a Democrat, were in Washington pushing Congress to pass the Puerto Rico Status Act, which calls for a binding 2023 vote by residents of Puerto Rico on the island's status.
Gonzalez-Colon, a Republican, expresses high hope for congressional approval of the self-determination bill, citing passage by a congressional committee and the support of some Republicans.
Granting statehood to Puerto Rico has been advocated by some Democratic activists as a means of balancing what is considered a Republican structural advantage in the Senate and the Electoral College.
Many Republicans oppose statehood, with some saying it is a Democratic ploy to increase the party's power in Congress.
Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., the Senate GOP leader, said in 2020 that Puerto Rican statehood wouldn't happen if he were the Senate majority leader.
For the latest on the damage in Puerto Rico, visit USATODAY.com