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Chairman Young Calls Puerto Rico’s Status a “Black Eye on American Soil”

At one point during last week’s House subcommittee hearing on Puerto Rico’s political status, Chairman Don Young asked where the witnesses thought Puerto Rico would be in 20 years if there were no change in the island’s status as a U.S. territory.

Rubén Berríos, former Senator in the Puerto Rican Senate and President of the Puerto Rico Independence Party (PIP), foresaw increasing dependence of Puerto Rico on the Federal government. Statehood, he said, is attractive for the wrong reasons, and Puerto Rico would become “a ghetto state.”

“If Congress takes no action and the colonialist PDP prevails in Puerto Rico’s 2016 elections,” he said in his statement, “the undemocratic bankrupt territory of extreme dependency will continue to breed support for statehood.”

Rep. Pedro Pierluisi predicted that more and more Puerto Ricans would move to the States, continuing a trend that has been increasing in momentum for a decade or more. Since the people of Puerto Rico are citizens of the United States, a brief plane ride is all it takes to achieve full citizenship with equal rights in the U.S.

“Quality of life is deteriorating very fast,” he said, “I see a bright future for Puerto Rico because of the potential, the capacity of our people, but we cannot keep losing them. The current status is not providing them with the necessary quality of life… We’re losing them.”

César A. Miranda Rodríguez, Attorney General of Puerto Rico, speaking on behalf of the Governor of Puerto Rico, said, “[w]e see a brighter future for Puerto Rico. We are facing a very difficult situation, in fact a crisis,” he said, “If we reorganize our debt… certainly Puerto Rico can come across and enter into a state of prosperity.”

Chairman Young responded with his own conclusion by stating, “if you’re not going to be a state, become an independent nation, but the status quo is not working.” He added that “you can’t have a group of people that has American status and not have the rights that all other Americans have… this is a black eye on American soil.”

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6 thoughts on “Chairman Young Calls Puerto Rico’s Status a “Black Eye on American Soil””

  1. Best Answer:
    The PDP will continue its effort to deteriorate the P.R. economy in order to attain more dependence in our current ELA status through lower wages and federal tax exemptions for U.S. industries, with the obvious intention to use the political muscle of said U.S. industries for their selfish economic benefits by avoiding the IRS.
    The Solution:
    Incorporate Puerto Rico. Only the IRS can save is.

  2. Exactly. 98% of Puerto Rican treasure their US citizenship.
    95% want permanent union with US and ACTUALLY BELIEVE THE PPD “COMMONWEALTH ” PARTY LIE THAT “THEY ALREADY HAVE PERMANENT UNION” THAT CANNOT CHANGE UNDER “SOVEREIGN COMMONWEALTH (FREE ASSOCIATION INDEPENDENCE ).

    SINCE THIS 95% IS SPLIT BETWEEN STATEHOOD AND STATUS QUO. INCORPORATION INTO TRUE PERMANENT UNION IS THE SHORT TERM ANSWER!!

    STATEHOOD WILL BF INEVITABLE ONCE PR IMPROVES AS IT FULLY INCORPORATES ECONOMICALLY UNTO US ECONOMY INSTEAD OF TODAY’S RIMSHOT SITUATION.

  3. Congress should also make clear ENGLISH WILL BE THE LANGUAGE OF INSTRUCTION IN SCHOOLS UNDER STATUS QUO-OR LOSE FEDERAL HIGHWAY FUNDING!
    BILINGUAL PUERTO RICANS CAN MAKE INFORMED CHOICES AS WELL AS DISPELLED THE PDP’S GARBAGE AGAINST STATEHOOD AND INDEPENDENCE.

    1. I disagree. We no longer have need of those 19th century imperialist ideas. English as a second language is all that is ever needed. The business of the US Congress is conducted in English. The business of the Government of PR is done in Spanish. Bilingual forms are commonplace in many parts of the US. We do not need to force PR to conform. Far from it.

  4. All this arguing is a waste of time. It’s the United States the one that has to decide if it is going to continue being an Imperial holder of the Puerto Rican Nation. What has to be done is for the US to get out if it wants, needs or decides to … that’s all the US has to do; the rest is to continue fiddling around with the issue.

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