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The House of Representatives on Dec. 15 passed a bill that would determine the future political status of Puerto Rico.
Currently, the Central American island exists in an in-between status as a protectorate of the United States. The citizens of Puerto Rico have a voice in Congress through an elected delegate, but this delegate is not permitted to vote on federal legislation.
The bill passed by the House on Dec. 15, dubbed the “Puerto Rico Status Act,” would call for a binding plebiscite on Puerto Rico’s future political status, giving residents the option to choose between full-fledged independence, joining the union as the 51st state, or independence followed by free association with the United States.
The lower chamber passed the bill in a 233–191 vote, including the support of every Democrat in the lower chamber and 16 Republicans.
In July, the bill was advanced through the House Natural Resources Committee; however, since then it had stalled, raising questions as to whether it would be taken up before the close of the 117th Congress.
Democrats unveiled the legislation earlier this year.
A group led by House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-N.Y.) and joined by Reps. Darren Soto (D-Fla.), Nydia Velazquez (D-N.Y.), Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), and Puerto Rico’s Resident Commissioner Jenniffer González-Colón, a Republican, hoped to end what they have described as Puerto Rico’s “colonial status” by calling for a referendum.
“The Puerto Rican people do not want to be a colony, and the United States of America does not want to be a colonialist power,” Hoyer said at a May 19 press conference discussing the bill. “This legislation seeks to address that issue.”
The group struck the same tone after the bill was finally scheduled for a vote after months of delay.
“Over the past months, we came together to act on a belief that we all share: Puerto Rico’s colonial status as a U.
