The status of Puerto Rico has been a highly controversial political topic in the past several decades since Puerto Rico became a territory of the United States. Currently, the official status of Puerto Rico is of an unincorporated territory of the United States. The United States has jurisdiction over the political affairs of Puerto Rico and Puerto Rican citizens are legally considered U.S. citizens. However, Puerto Rican citizens do not enjoy all of the same freedoms that U.S. citizens who reside in the states do. For example, Puerto Rican citizens do not have the ability to vote in the U.S. presidential elections and do not have voting representation in the U.S. Congress.

On  June 24, 2015, a hearing was held on the subject of Puerto Rico’s status by the House Natural Resources Committee, specifically the Subcommittee on Indian, Insular and Alaska Native Affairs, of which Pedro Pierluisi is a member. Representatives from each political party of Puerto Rico were present at the hearing, although Puerto Rico Attorney General Cesar Miranda made it a point to indicate that he was there representing Governor Alejandro Garcia Padilla merely in his official functions, not as leader of the Popular Democratic Party (which led to a tense exchange in the hearing with Delegate Gregorio Sablan (D-NMI)).

The Chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee, Don Young, has been in favor of admitting Puerto Rico as a state of the United States. However, Young’s support for Puerto Rico has been questioned, since a fundraiser was held for him in San Juan shortly before the hearing, arguably a common practice among members of Congress of both parties. Nonetheless, Young’s support for statehood for Puerto Rico and Pierluisi’s legislation has been substantial. Young has co-sponsored Pierluisi’s legislation regarding the status of Puerto Rico, H.R. 727.

One of Pierluisi’s main objectives for the hearing was to hold a discussion on the Puerto Rico Statehood Admission Process Act. This piece of legislation, H.R. 727, would admit Puerto Rico as a state if that’s what the majority of Puerto Rican citizens want. H.R. 727 already has a substantial amount of bipartisan support in the House of Representatives. Pierluisi also had planned to ask for action on the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2014, which is a law that provides funding for Puerto Rico’s status vote. Finally, Pierluisi seeked to further explore the link between Puerto Rico’s status and the current economic crisis Puerto Rico is having, which is a very important topic of discussion. Pierluisi has blamed the economic crisis on the current status Puerto Rico has as an unincorporated territory of the United States.

During the hearing, in his witness testimony, Pierluisi stuck to his plan as he discussed the importance of the Puerto Rico Statehood Admission Process Act and pushed for action to be taken on the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2014. He also expressed his want for Puerto Rico to no longer be discriminated against by the U.S. government and to be finally treated equally as the other U.S. states. Pierluisi wants Puerto Rican citizens to be able to have access to the same opportunities and rights that U.S. citizens enjoy. The resident commissioner used support from Puerto Ricans to back up his proposal of equality for Puerto Rico with the result of the 2012 referendum in Puerto Rico, in which the majority of those who voted expressed their preference for statehood. Many other witnesses stressed importance towards the economic crisis Puerto Rico is facing and agreed with the statement of Pierluisi that equality for Puerto Rico could be a possibility for improving the economic situation.

This hearing was important, because if Puerto Rico is admitted as a state, then Puerto Rico would then have representation in the Senate and House of Representatives. However, Congressional members from Puerto Rico would be expected, under popular misconceptions, to be Democratic, which is something the current Republican Congress would not favor. Therefore, a hearing regarding the status of Puerto Rico has not been held since the House of Representatives was taken over by the Republican Party. Congress has repeatedly stated that officially changing the political status of Puerto Rico will be left in the hands of Puerto Rican citizens. The hearing was a step forward in the right direction for Puerto Rico as it facilitated discussion on the economic crisis that Puerto Rico is facing and introduced many views on working towards strengthening Puerto Rico.

Watch the hearing