>Puerto Rico's new representative to the U.S. Congress filed a bill Wednesday that would turn the island into the 51st U.S. state by 2025.
>The bill is the first step in a renewed quest for statehood that is to include a referendum letting Puerto Rico voters choose between independence and statehood, Resident Commissioner Jenniffer Gonzalez told The Associated Press.
>"We are treated as second-class American citizens," said Gonzalez, a Republican who once served as speaker of the island's House of Representatives.
They should allow it since they are Americans and need the governments permission to restructure their goddamn debt
Nathaniel Perry
>BUUUIIIILDDDDD A WALLLLLL >Take more hispanics in
Hunter Adams
>implying Republicans care about anything other than getting as much power for the party as possible They haven't even taken over yet and they already tried to dismantle the ethics committee.
David Sanchez
But they'd always vote Democrat, so unless there's a place to always vote Republican to balance it out I don't see it happening.
John Lewis
They're already "in", they just have little authority.
Mason Butler
I refuse to believe party politics matter so much when the well being of the island is at stake
Brandon Reed
Didn't some american companies use Puerto Rico as some kind of tax haven thanks to some legal loophole? If so, I don't see they giving them the State status.
Jaxson Roberts
>Be American >Being this naive about your own political system Yup, checks out
Jack Nguyen
lol
Eli James
I thought the population already voted to become a state so why are they bringing independence up again? Also, the fuckers don't pay income tax.
Xavier Ortiz
But neither the Republicans or the Democrats share your refusal to partake in party politics.
Ayden Ward
I worked for a company that moved manufacturing down there for cheaper labor. It failed horribly because of inefficient labor and poor quality workmanship that had to be redone. I also know Puerto Ricans who were engineers on large infrastructure projects there and they constantly had problems like all the construction workers not showing up to work on random days and taking four hour breaks. I guess if you didn't employ any locals it might be fine.
Isaiah Hernandez
They're already 'in' though. Puerto Ricans are full US Citizens and can literally live and work anywhere they want in the country. They can even vote in federal elections once they live in an actual state.
Jackson Gutierrez
Meaningless
Luis White
Second looks more badass
Luis Young
Should have done a strawpoll senpai
2
Charles Williams
well if we get rid of califoria...
James Clark
...
Noah Perez
You could always balance it with Guam and Virgin Islands, or making DC an state.
Mason Fisher
>they have zero authority Fixed.
Jaxon Jones
All those places would probably vote Democrat
Eli Adams
>another solidly Hispanic, Democrat state
no thanks
Jace Morgan
kek, that's what the Republican Party gets for pandering only to whites and old people
Daniel Fisher
>they are Americans Piece of paper saying you're American =/= American. They're Puerto Ricans and they'll always be Puerto Ricans, and there isn't a rat's chance of them joining the US.
Gabriel Brooks
>that's what the Republican party gets for pandering to their countrymen and not immigrants
Adrian Gomez
>old people Except the elderly are more likely to vote Democrat
Also, the Republican party does not pander only to white people, it's just that non-whites generally aren't educated enough to realize how the democratic party is actually hurting them instead of helping them like Republican policies would.
Robert Williams
My grandfather was a poor farmer that hated socialism and the welfare system advocated statehood all his life and died recently. >tfw he will never live to see it
Anthony Watson
>boriquas are not legal >Spanish education
Jacob Roberts
He could have lived another 100 years and still never have seen it.
Christopher Nguyen
>actually hurting them instead of helping them like Republican policies would.
Wut?
Jose Jackson
>Puerto Rico already gets tons of financial support without having to pay the same taxes as the rest of the US >all it has to sacrifice in return is the federal voting right >WE'RE SECOND CLASS CITIZENS MAN, LET US BE A STATE One more on the long list of failed Puerto Rico statehood bills. As if these Americanized spics actually care about their status and not just about attention and more dosh to shut them up.
Oliver Flores
PR has 70 BILLION dollars in debt and the local government only has the power to default or default. They have no power to manage themselves but are expected to fix the problems of keeping hospitals and utilities going with no money.
Eli Green
Based Hans. We already have enough bankrupt spicholes in the US. They even have the right to just move here if they want. It's literally like they're in a US version of schengen.
Justin Martin
Giving people free money encourages them to not help themselves
Luke Gray
Not really though. You are supposed to do more then just throw money at poor urban and rural folk.
Julian Diaz
But that's literally all the democrats do. Tell me one more policy they have to help the poor...a single fucking one
Aiden Reed
>Puerto ricans are immigrants
David Mitchell
That wasn't even referring to Puerto Ricans, learn reading comprehension please
Brody Foster
And yes they are immigrants, they're not from a US state, doesn't matter if they have citizenship.
Bentley Taylor
almost everyone in this country is descended from immigrants. why do republicans only care about the white and old ones?
Jayden Garcia
>literally taxation without representation
Hudson James
yes, Pfizer and Microsoft for example this
Hudson Roberts
Because we made this country, and because you have to go back.
Daniel Morris
i dont think it counts as immigration if youre already a citizen and dont even need a passport to move to a state
Julian Watson
we're too BURGERED to even realize that. I have little to no hope for this "country"
Carson Perez
go back where? i was born and raised in the US as were my parents and grandparents
Colton Foster
we're from a US territory, and citizenship means that we are, by definition, American citizens, not immigrants
Angel Rodriguez
If I had Italian citizenship by circumstances of birth, but had never lived in Italy in my life, and decided to move there I'm pretty sure I and most people wouldn't think of it the same way as people would moving from Wisconsin to Utah.
Jacob Rivera
See
Alexander Hernandez
I hate to go with Pat Buchanan on anything, but what the hell is Puerto Rico doing anywhere near statehood? Why are they even a non-state territory/non-state part of the US?
They need to get out. We have enough Spanish infiltrators in Florida and Texas and California as it is.
Jason Mitchell
that's a retarded comparison. Puerto Rico is more Americanized than any European country. We consume American media, food, buy from American stores, listen to American music, follow American sports even. We're the only Latin American country where football is called soccer and where it's an irrelevant sport. Most Puerto Ricans, even the poor, travel to the US at least once in their lifetime, and there are more Puerto Ricans in the US than in Puerto Rico. Just because Spanish is our first language doesn't mean we're not American citizens.
Thomas Garcia
why are puerto ricans so hard to understand when they speak spanish? they skip more letters than any other dialect of spanish i've seen
besides that, seems like a pretty cool place. will visit for the first time next week
Tyler Clark
I never said you weren't citizens, I was just saying that even if Puerto Ricans are part of the US, Puerto Rico isn't, so generally it's the same thing as my comparison. PR is basically a country of its own, just with free travel here.
>just because Spanish is our first language But that's a huge fucking thing, English as a first language is literally the only thing all of the 50 states have in common.
James Morgan
DC wouldn't be a balance. It typically votes about 90% Democratic.
Austin Davis
How much federal tax do Puerto Ricans pay?
Zachary Young
>Literally Norway tier.
Parker Jones
Honestly who cares? There are more PR's in New York than in Puerto Rico.