The first ever Gallup poll on statehood for the District of Columbia has found that 64% of Americans surveyed oppose it. 29% favor statehood for D.C. and 8% are undecided. Several recent polls taken by organizations ranging from Fox News to Data for Progress have shown that people favor statehood for Puerto Rico over statehood… Read more »

Statehood for both Puerto Rico and Washington, D.C. is showing up as a talking point in the 2020 presidential campaign. But can either the territory or the district become a state? A questioner at Quora thinks not. “I was told that Puerto Rico cannot be a state because there was an amendment to the Constitution… Read more »

Kenneth Caban Gonzalez moved from Puerto Rico to Georgia in 2017 and applied, after the required 30 days, for a Georgia drivers license. So far, it’s a simple story. As U.S. citizens, Puerto Ricans can move freely from Puerto Rico to any state, and can of course acquire a drivers license by applying in the… Read more »

Earlier today, the Energy and Commerce Health Subcommittee passed the Territories Health Care Improvement Act (H.R. 3631) on a bipartisan basis. Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Pallone (D-NJ) and Health Subcommittee Chairwoman Eshoo (D-CA) spoke in support of the bill, with Eshoo calling the federal Medicaid cap “arbitrary” and  “discriminatory.” She said that “for too… Read more »

A bipartisan agreement among U.S. House of Representatives Energy and Commerce Committee leaders to grant Puerto Rico $12 billion for Medicaid during Federal Fiscal Years 2020-23 was announced last night. It is expected to be approved in the Health Subcommittee tomorrow and subsequently by the full Committee. Under the proposal, Puerto Rico would get $2.823… Read more »

The House Committee on Oversight and Reform held a hearing on June 25, 2019, titled, “Recovery, Resiliency and Readiness—Contending with Natural Disasters in the Wake of Climate Change.” This was the third in a series of hearings on climate change. Natural disasters have been greatly affected by climate change. Category 4 and 5 hurricanes are… Read more »

Seven Democratic senators sent a letter to Sonny Perdue, Secretary of the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture, and Mick Mulvaney, Director of the Office of Management and Budget, asking for an explanation of the delay in disbursing funds for nutrition assistance for Puerto Rico. Signers of the letter included Bernie Sanders (D-VT), Kamala Harris (D-CA), Kirsten… Read more »

The Johnston family of J House Vlogs shares ordinary family life in Puerto Rico on their YouTube channel. Losing a drone in the rain forest, paddling into a bioluminescent bay, or hiking in a cave full of bats are adventures interspersed with grocery trips, kids’ games, and cooking. They describe themselves as “an imperfect family… Read more »

In 2016, there were three debates between the two nominees, 12 Republican primary debates, and 6 Democratic primary debates. Puerto Rico was not mentioned in any of the debates. In the first debate of the 2020 presidential race, Puerto Rico came up. Beto O’Rourke had answered a question about climate change, mentioning Miami and Houston… Read more »