Congressional Committee to hold hearing regarding Puerto Rico Admission

Two competing bills that seek to address Puerto Rico’s status as the oldest U.S. Territory will get full hearings in the U.S. House of Representatives’ Natural Resources Committee on April 14.

Committee Chairman Raul Grijalva, an Arizona Democrat, said that both bills would get a “fair hearing” and that he wouldn’t put his “thumb on the scale.”

The Puerto Rico Statehood Admission Act seeks to turn Puerto Rico into the 51st U.S. state by holding a binding “yes” or “no” vote on the island. It is sponsored by Rep. Daren Soto, Democrat from Florida and supported by the island’s Governor, Pedro Pierluisi D-PR and the island congressional delegate, Congresswoman Jennifer Gonzalez R-PR.

The Puerto Rico Self-Determination Act in the other hand would convene a complicated and long constitutional convention in which elected delegation would convene in a mirror legislature to study all territorial options including independence, statehood and free association. It is supported by Rep. Nydia Velazquez D-NY, a long supported of the current commonwealth status and with favorable view towards independence.

The Caribbean island of 3.2 million has been a U.S. possession since 1898.

“I look forward to hearing about both bills to come to an equitable, and hopefully final, federal agreement on a process to resolve the island’s ultimate political status,” Grijalva said.