On Thursday, April 29th, Congress is said to vote on a bill [HR 2499] that will begin the process for Puerto Rico to gain statehood.
If Puerto Rico becomes a state, Democrats will gain roughly 12 million new voters, 2 Senate seats, and 6 House of Representative seats through expanding the Hispanic bloc vote. Sadly, race politics continues to be the Democrats' bread & butter for re-election.
Since 1967, Puerto Ricans have voted 3 times on referendums for statehood in the U.S. Each time, they voted "No," choosing to remain a territory. For Progressives in both the continental U.S. and Puerto Rico, the phrase, "The people have spoken," means nothing. They're going to use an expedited approach, the Tennessee Plan, to finally achieve statehood.
This new process begins with the bill, "Puerto Rico Democracy Act" [HR 2499]. It is designed to change the previously asked question of Puerto Ricans, "Do you want Puerto Rico to become a U.S. state?" to: "Should Puerto Rico change their political status?"
In our heated political tug-of-war, who wouldn't want to "change their political status?" That's what's going on globally: a desire to change the status quo of political situations!
Democrats are banking on this sentiment. If the majority of voters say they want to change the political status of Puerto Rico (whatever that means can vary person to person,) then Congress will issue another vote. This time the option for Puerto Rico's current relationship with the U.S. will be removed --leaving only 3 options:
1) Independence
2) Sovereignty in Association with the United States (Dissolves the impoverished territory's current financial aid agreements.)
3) Statehood
If the majority of voters initially decide not to change their political status, then every 8 years they will be asked again.
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