U.S. Island Territory Puerto Rico Inches Towards Statehood · The Floridian

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With the 2024 presidential election and Puerto Rico’s 7th plebiscite vote right around the corner, it appears as if the efforts to dress down support for Puerto Rican statehood are being ramped up by El Nuevo Dia’s biased reporting against making the island territory the 51st state of the United States.

Enter the usual suspect, Jose Delgado.

It can be perceived as an obvious opinion article posted last weekend; Delgado uses Democratic Party talking points against former President Donald Trump to qualify his opinion that congressional Republicans do not support statehood.

In other words, Delgado is saying that Republicans are anti-statehood.

“At a time when Trump says he wants to be ‘a dictator for a day,’ the statehood agenda for Washington D.C., approved by the House of Representatives twice, must be taken seriously, since they want to ‘end democracy as we know it,’ including criminalizing abortion and encouraging vote suppression, according to House Democratic Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (New York).

In all of Congress, only about fifteen Republicans have favored projects that offer statehood for Puerto Rico this four-year term,” stated Delgado in his piece.

The assertion that few Republicans support statehood for Puerto Rico is not accurate. The issue of statehood is supported on a bipartisan level.

More and more Republican lawmakers in Washington, including those in extremely competitive House districts, have warmed up to the statehood initiative. Some representatives are still waiting to see the results of the plebiscite vote.

Senator Marco Rubio, who, with Senator Rick Scott, has long supported statehood, recently reiterated his support for the initiative.

"In 2020, our fellow Americans in Puerto Rico made it clear through their internal referendum that they desire statehood," Rubio said. "Today there are not currently 60 votes for this in the Senate. However, that shouldn't stop us from working on other initiatives that help Puerto Rico thrive economically, including my bipartisan and bicameral MMEDS [Medical Manufacturing, Economic Development, and Sustainability] Act that would rebuild the island’s pharmaceutical industry and make America less reliant on foreign nations for medicine."

In addition, lawmakers know all too well that Puerto Rican statehood would allow the island to sit at the table during the national political process.

If Puerto Rico becomes a state, the island would gain representation in Congress with 2 U.S. Senators and up to 4 members in the House of Representatives.

Moreover, national Republicans have already carved out their outline on how the future lawmakers would be apportioned.

Momentum is behind the statehood movement as more Florida lawmakers, both at the state and federal levels, back the move to make Puerto Rico a state.

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