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New York Daily News "P.R. BILL PASSES HOUSE PLEBISCITE OKD BY SINGLE VOTE, GOES TO SENATE" By RICHARD SISK Daily News Washington Bureau (03/05/98, Copyright 1998 Daily News, L.P.) WASHINGTON The House last night approved by one vote a historic bill that would allow Puerto Ricans to decide by a simple majority whether their island should join the union as the 51st state. After an emotional day-long floor debate and a tense roll call, a cheer went up as the House passed the measure calling for a referendum giving Puerto Ricans a vote on their future by the end of the year. If approved by the Senate, the bill would give Puerto Ricans three choices: statehood, independence or continued status as a U.S. commonwealth. Puerto Ricans living in the mainland U.S. would not be allowed to vote in the election. In the 209-to-208 vote, 165 Democrats, 43 Republicans and one Independent joined in supporting the plebiscite. The measure was expected to undergo a rocky road in the Senate despite the support of House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.). President Clinton hailed the vote as a "a victory for democracy and against exclusion." Before the final vote, supporters of the measure first had to defeat a killer amendment by Rep. Gerald Solomon (R-N.Y.) that would have forced the island to adopt English as "the official language of the U.S." if Puerto Ricans chose statehood. Clinton had warned that he would veto the bill if the Solomon amendment was attached because it would force Spanish-speaking Puerto Rico to use English in federal transactions and promote English instruction in public schools. Solomon's proposal went down by a 265-to-153 vote, and instead, the House passed a watered-down amendment that would promote, but not mandate, the use of English along with Spanish. The debate on the main U.S.-Puerto Rico Political Status Act divided representatives of Puerto Rican descent. Rep. Jose Serrano (D-Bronx), who was born in Puerto Rico, adamantly refused to take a stand on whether the island should be independent or a state but said commonwealth status was unacceptable. "I honestly feel commonwealth is not right," Serrano said. "I don't care whether statehood wins. I don't care whether independence wins." His main concern was ending the "colonial status" of the island. Serrano's amendment to allow U.S. citizens of Puerto Rican descent residing in the 50 states to vote in the plebiscite was defeated by a vote of 356 to 57. Rep. Nydia Velazquez (D-Brooklyn) pressed for maintaining commonwealth status and charged that the bill would stack the deck for statehood by suggesting that Puerto Ricans might lose their U.S. citizenship. "This is not about self-determination," Velazquez said. "This bill is the product of a flawed legislative process that was designed to produce a very specific result." Under Puerto Rico's current status as a self-governing U.S. commonwealth, its 3.8 million residents pay no federal income tax but have no voting representation in Congress and do not vote in presidential elections. In a nonbinding vote in 1993, Puerto Ricans narrowly opted to remain a commonwealth, with 48.6% preferring the status quo, 46.3% for statehood and 4.4% for independence. While the debate raged on the House floor, three busloads of statehood supporters from the Bronx joined a demonstration on the Capitol lawn in support of the bill. Julia Rodriguez, president of the District 8 school board in the Bronx, waved a U.S. flag with 51 stars and said the bill "has a big meaning for me. My father's greatest dream was that Puerto Rico would become a state." Under the bill, Puerto Rican voters would face a referendum before the end of this year on the three choices. If independence or statehood failed to gain a majority, an additional referendum would be authorized at least once every 10 years. If a majority voted for statehood or independence, it would begin a decade-long process that would require several more votes by Congress and Puerto Ricans before final status would be achieved.
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