Posts Tagged: Lisa Murkowski

Commonwealth Status: A History of Rejection by the U.S.

Puerto Rico’s pro-“commonwealth” political party is pushing to include a “commonwealth” option on the ballot of a plebiscite scheduled for November 3, 2020. The United States government has repeatedly rejected many reiterations of “commonwealth” over the years, and some elements of rejected “commonwealth” – such as ongoing U.S. citizenship while achieving separate sovereignty – are… Read more »

Rossello Speaks at Energy and Natural Resources Hearing

Governor Ricardo Rossello spoke to the U.S. Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources on February 26th in a hearing on the state of the territories. “The actions we take today will either open the doors to equality, progress and success for Puerto Rico,” he began his prepared statement, “or continue to yield social and… Read more »

Members of Congress Continue to Discuss Relief for Puerto Rico

Members of Congress continued to express their support for Puerto Rico in remarks on Tuesday, October 3. In the Senate, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Energy and Natural Resources Committee Chair Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), and Sen. Bill Nelson (D-FL) made statements. lIn the House of Representatives,  he following representatives spoke out… Read more »

RNC Passes Resolution Affirming Equal Citizenship for All Americans – Including Residents of U.S. Territories

The Republican National Committee approved on Friday a resolution affirming equal citizenship for all Americans.  The resolution was tailored to the United States territories of Puerto Rico, Guam, the Virgin Islands and the Northern Mariana Islands. “All American citizens, regardless of their sex, race, color, ethnicity, religion or creed, are entitled to the full enjoyment… Read more »

Enhanced Commonwealth and Free Association

For many years, Puerto Rico’s Popular Democratic Party (PDP) favored an “enhanced commonwealth” status. The party’s official statement about what that enhanced commonwealth might look like found a national platform in the “Puerto Rico-United States Bilateral Pact of Non-territorial Permanent Union and Guaranteed Citizenship Act,” a bill introduced by Rep. John T. Doolittle (R-CA) in the House in June,… Read more »

New CRS Report Issued on Puerto Rico Status

The Congressional Research Service, a non-partisan governmental resource for Members of Congress, has released a new report on Puerto Rico’s political status. The central thesis of the report appears to be that status has been an element of every discussion, action, and failure to act on the subject of Puerto Rico for the past century. The… Read more »

Puerto Rico Awakens?

Veteran news editor Rafael Matos wrote in an article in the New York Times that Puerto Rico has had a “rude awakening” from several recent events: The Sanchez-Valle decision that said that Puerto Rico does not have the sovereignty to prosecute individuals for crimes for which they have already been tried by the Federal government… Read more »

How Each State Voted on PROMESA

PROMESA, the Puerto Rico Oversight, Management, and Economic Stability Act, was signed into law by the president last week after receiving resounding votes in both U.S. the House of Representatives and Senate. The details on the vote show that it truly was a bipartisan vote. PROMESA won by a strong majority, which can be seen… Read more »

US Senate Finance Chair Calls for Transparency and Good Faith Negotiations

  On Friday afternoon, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch (R-UT),  spoke on the Senate floor critical of Democrats, the Obama Administration, and Governor Alejandro Garcia Padilla (PDP) for the lack of progress in addressing Puerto Rico’s fiscal and economic problems. He recalled numerous information requests to U.S. Treasury Department Secretary Jacob Lew, Health and Human… Read more »