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Orlando Sentinel "U.S. House Votes to Authorize Puerto Rico Vote on Statehood" Sean Holton (03/05/98, Copyright (C) 1998 KRTBN Knight Ridder Tribune Business News)
WASHINGTON--Mar. 5--The U.S. House handed Puerto Rico's statehood movement a heart-stopping victory Wednesday by barely authorizing a U.S.-sanctioned vote on the island's political status this year. By a vote of 209-208, lawmakers agreed that Puerto Ricans should be allowed to say whether they want statehood, independence or continuation as citizens of a U.S. commonwealth. "The people of Puerto Rico will be grateful for the steps we have taken here today," said Rep. Carlos Romero-Barcelo, the Caribbean island's non-voting, pro-statehood delegate to Congress. The island's pro-commonwealth party, which fought the legislation tooth and nail, would beg to differ with Romero. But now it's up to the Senate to decide whether the legislation should move forward. When the House approved a Puerto Rico plebiscite in 1990, the bill died in the Senate for lack of action. The turning point in nearly 12 hours of emotional House debate came as 55 Republicans joined 182 Democrats to beat back a controversial bid to make Puerto Rico statehood contingent on adoption of English as its official language. If that proposal had been approved, it likely would have doomed the broader bill calling for a referendum. Lawmakers also shot down an attempt to open any Puerto Rico status referendum to absentee voters living on the U.S. mainland. That amendment would have allowed tens of thousands of Puerto Rico-born citizens in the Orlando area to participate. House Democrats lined up by a margin of 5-to-1 behind the overall bill, but the legislation was pushed over the top by a hodgepodge of about 40 Republicans who took their lead from House Speaker Newt Gingrich in endorsing it. Whether that bipartisan dynamic can be reproduced in the Senate is unclear. So far, the signals on that front are mixed. Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott, R-Miss., said earlier this week that the chamber has no time this year to deal with the complex Puerto Rico status issue. After Wednesday's House vote, however, lobbying in the Senate no doubt will intensify and may increase the pressure on Lott for further action. Already, Sen. Frank Murkowski, R-Alaska, chairman of the key Senate Energy and Natural Resources committee, has promised to hold hearings on the bill on the condition that the Clinton Administration formally state its position. "What we've said in the past, and we continue to say, is that if we can get a House bill over here and we can couple that with an administration position, then we intend to hold a hearing in our committee," Derek Jumper, a spokesman for Murkowski, said late Wednesday. The White House has said it "strongly supports" the bill passed by the House, but Jumper said Murkowski will require more detailed "officially documented" views from Clinton. U.S. Sens. Bob Graham, D-Fla. and Connie Mack, R-Fla., are co-sponsors of the Senate legislation calling for a Puerto Rico referendum. "He's real optimistic, and it's just a big step forward," a Graham spokesman said of the House vote. "He commends the House for doing it." Romero, the Puerto Rican delegate to Congress, said overall Congressional approval would be "the single most important development in 100 years" for the island. Romero's support, as well as the fervent backing of other pro-statehooders, underscored political divisions on the Caribbean island that were only exacerbated by the House legislation. Pro-commonwealth Puerto Ricans -- who want to maintain the island's current political status -- have charged that the legislation sponsored by Rep. Don Young, R-Alaska, is a thinly disguised statehood bill. Young has dismissed that accusation, insisting that his bill seeks only "self-determination" for Puerto Rico -- whether that's statehood or independence as a nation of its own. Young's bill is based on the assumption that the current commonwealth status -- in which Puerto Ricans are U.S. citizens who can be called on to fight in wars but can't vote for president -- is a political limbo that is unacceptable. Even if the Senate and President Clinton approved the House bill, or something close to it, any choice by Puerto Rico in a referendum this year would not be final. A vote for change -- meaning statehood or independence -- would set in motion a transition period of up to 10 years. Puerto Ricans, as well as Congress, would get additional chances to vote on the plan as it evolved. A vote for the status quo -- commonwealth -- would also not be final under the terms of Young's bill. Rather, it would be subject to repeated review in subsequent referenda to be held at least once a decade. That provision is one of many in the bill leading critics to call it a deck stacked for statehood. Even if Puerto Ricans voted this year to preserve their commonwealth, said Roger Wicker, R-Miss., "this bill would say to the people of Puerto Rico, 'Vote again! You didn't get it right last time!'." But the bill's opponents lost their best chance to stop the legislation when the "English-only" amendment proposed by Rep. Gerald Solomon, R-N.Y., was killed. Had that amendment been approved, it would have drained vital Democratic support from the Young bill. When the House voted on a similar proposal in 1996 to make English the official language of the United State, it approved it 259 to 169. Republicans were overwhelmingly in favor of the policy. But Wednesday, many of those same Republicans -- such as U.S. Reps. Bill McCollum, R-Longwood, and John Mica, R-Winter Park -- withdrew their support for English-only in the name of pushing the Puerto Rico bill to passage. "I favor English as the official language of the United States," McCollum said. "But to attach it to this bill sends the wrong signal." There were many others in the GOP faithful who agreed with McCollum. In the end, Republicans could muster only 168 votes in favor of English-only, compared to 223 votes for the policy two years ago. Leading the charge to open the referendum to millions of Puerto Rican-born citizens living on the U.S. mainland was Rep. Jose Serrano, D-N.Y. A statehood advocate, Serrano was born in Puerto Rico himself and is one of three Puerto Ricans serving in Congress. "All of the children of the territory, all of the children of the colony, should be allowed to vote," Serrano said. But Serrano's argument was rejected by a fellow-statehooder, Puerto Rico's non-voting delegate Romero. "This is for the people of Puerto Rico who live in Puerto Rico to decide, and not the brothers and sisters who live on the mainland," Romero said. "They have moved ... and just the fact that you have an emotional attachment is not sufficient." Serrano's amendment was shot down by a vote of 356-57. Visit The Orlando Sentinel Online on the World Wide Web at http://www.orlandosentinel.com or on America Online at keyword: OSO
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