Twelve short, sourced answers on citizenship, voting, taxes, federal programs, admission and representation, in English and Spanish, each with a link to the full article.

Since 1993, the House has granted and removed the Resident Commissioner’s vote in the Committee of the Whole five times. Why no rule can provide a final vote.

The Commonwealth’s funded debt fell from about $34.3 billion to $7.4 billion. What the plan did for bonds and pensions, and why the Oversight Board remains.

A Supreme Court justice, a House resolution and the Justice Department have rejected the reasoning of the Insular Cases. Why overruling them would still not end territorial status.

Since January 2022, professionals paid in Puerto Rico’s debt cases must disclose their connections to creditors. Why PROMESA lacked the rule, and what it shows about representation.

Puerto Rico, Guam, the Virgin Islands, the Northern Mariana Islands and American Samoa each live under their own federal law. What they share, and how citizenship differs.

The District of Columbia has cast three electoral votes since 1964 because of the Twenty-third Amendment. Puerto Rico, with four times the population, has none.

Since 2021, federal law matches Puerto Rico’s earned income credit up to three times a base amount. How the formula works, and why it differs from the rule in the states.

Enacted in 1976 and repealed in 1996 with a ten-year phase-out, Section 936 shaped Puerto Rico’s industrial base. What the record shows about its end.

In 2016 the Supreme Court held that Puerto Rico and the United States cannot both prosecute the same conduct, because Puerto Rico’s power ultimately comes from Congress.

The First Circuit found the appointments unconstitutional; the Supreme Court reversed in 2020. What the ruling settled about the Board, and what it left to Congress.

In 2016 the Supreme Court struck down Puerto Rico’s debt recovery law, and Congress enacted PROMESA seventeen days later. How a 1984 definition decided the island’s options.

NAPREC applied the House apportionment formula to the official 2020 Census figures. Puerto Rico would have had four representatives and six electoral votes.

3,184,835 people live in Puerto Rico; about 5.96 million people of Puerto Rican origin live in the states. Where the diaspora lives, and why one family can have two sets of rights.

The IRS collected $5.54 billion in gross federal taxes from Puerto Rico in fiscal year 2025. What residents pay, what they generally do not, and how statehood would change the rule.

Since tax year 2021, a family in Puerto Rico with one child can claim the federal Child Tax Credit. How families claim it with the IRS, and why the rule shows the limits of territorial status.

In Coyle v. Smith (1911), the Supreme Court held that a new state enters the Union equal in power to every other. What the equal footing doctrine guarantees, and what it would mean for Puerto Rico.

Every state after the original thirteen was admitted by Congress. How admission has worked, what the Alaska and Hawaii acts show, and the federal step Puerto Rico still awaits.

The Senate passed its farm bill without bringing Puerto Rico into SNAP. How Puerto Rico’s nutrition block grant differs, and what USDA estimates a transition would cost.

A continuing resolution keeps PAN, WIC and Head Start running through December 11, 2026. What a stopgap budget does, and does not do, for Puerto Rico.