The House of Representatives passed HR8393, the Puerto Rico Status Act, in December 2022 with all House Democrats and 16 Republicans voting in favor.
Members of the House then took to Twitter to share their reactions.
Announcements
Many of the tweets from Congress were in the nature of announcements. Reps like Grace Meng (D-NY) and Jimmy Gomez (D-CA) expressed their pride in their votes, while Betty McCollum (D-MN) informed her followers about the bill.
Rep. Don Beyer (D-VA) gave the details of the vote.
Celebration
Many representatives took the opportunity to celebrate the vote, explaining their reasons for choosing to vote yes.
Longtime supporters of Puerto Rico retiring representative Stephanie Murphy (D-FL) and Ruben Gallego (D-AZ) tweeted positively about their votes.
Grace Meng included a tweet linking to a Reuters story with the misleading headline, “Puerto Rico Independence vote bull passes U.S. House.”
Jamaal Brown (D-NY) tweeted about his personal connection to the bill.
Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL) presented the bill as a statehood bill.
Rep. Brendan Boyle (D-PA) tweeted before his vote. James Clyburn (D-SC) thanked his colleagues who created the bill.
Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and Ritchie Torres (D-NY) tweeted about equal rights for Puerto Rico.
Protest
Bruce Westerman (R-AR) spoke against the bill on the floor of Congress. He objected to the process, rather than the goal. He retweeted a tweet from the Republicans on the House Natural Resources committee criticizing the vote.
Scott Franklin (R-FL) also objected to the process.
Tom McClintock (R-CA), perhaps the most negative voice in the floor debate, did not tweet, though The Recount called him out on his speech.
Rep. Chuy Garcia (D-IL) reported his positive vote, but also expressed his belief that “this bill is imperfect.”
Calling for Senate action
Pramila Jaypal (D-WA) joined McCollum in calling for action on the bill from the Senate.
Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-TX) also expressed hope that the Senate would “move quickly” on the legislation.
