The chairman of a key Senate committee has offered a new
bare-bones proposal for Puerto Ricans to vote on their future in hopes
the legislation can pass before Congress adjourns in October.
Sen. Frank H. Murkowski (R-Alaska) said Friday he gave copies
of his proposal to the 20 members of the Committee on Energy and
Natural Resources to study over the August recess so they will be
ready to write a bill in September.
"Anybody who objectively looks at the Senate schedule would see
how little time we have," Murkowski told reporters. "This is a
scaled-down objective bill that will meet our obligation to the people
of Puerto Rico."
The Murkowski proposal for the first time federally authorizes
Puerto Ricans to vote "from time to time" on whether to become a state
or an independent nation or remain a commonwealth under the U.S.
flag.
Six months after a plebiscite, the president must make
recommendations aimed at implementing the winning option, or, if no
status wins a majority, reexamine commonwealth with a view toward
making changes.
Murkowski stressed that the proposal does not obligate Congress
to put in motion a plan to make Puerto Rico the 51st state or an
independent nation. "That is far down the road."
Still, the measure's relative simplicity gave new legislative
life to the Puerto Rican status issue. Senate leaders have said that
an elaborate bill like that passed by the House in March had little
chance to reach the Senate floor in the legislative crush before
Congress adjourns in October.
Pro-statehood Puerto Rico Gov. Pedro Rosello, in Washington on
a visit, said in an interview he supported the Murkowski approach, and
plans to hold a status plebiscite Dec. 13.
"In essence, [the Murkowski proposal] allows us to focus on
what is most important," Rosello said. "Congress is authorizing the
celebration of a plebiscite and is putting forth definitions
consistent with the U.S. Constitution and U.S. policy."
Despite Murkowski's desire to provide what he called "accurate
and neutral definitions" and his assurances that his proposal "does
not mandate future legislation," his efforts showed little sign of
ending the bitter arguments that have attended the status debate in
Puerto Rico.
Under commonwealth, which has held sway on Puerto Rico since
1952, the island's 3.8 million inhabitants hold U.S. citizenship,
receive many federal benefits and pay no federal income tax, but they
cannot vote in U.S. elections and have no voting representative in
Congress.
Commonwealth won the last status plebiscite in 1993, receiving
48.6 of the vote to 46.3 for statehood and 4.4 for independence, but
the trend over decades has been toward statehood.
And unlike 1993, when proponents of each option wrote their own
definitions, the Murkowski proposal and the House bill describe
commonwealth as a territory with U.S. citizenship granted by statute,
a definition loathed by commonwealth supporters.
"It [the Murkowski bill] still describes Puerto Rico as a
colony," said Anibal Acevedo Vila, leader of the pro-commonwealth
Popular Democratic Party. Acevedo Vila said he would oppose the
Murkowski measure, but did not repeat earlier threats to boycott a
plebiscite that used objectionable definitions.
Also, Rosello made clear that he had no interest in holding
further plebiscites "from time to time" if statehood won in December,
saying a victory "implies that you would have to start the process" of
admitting Puerto Rico as the 51st state. "There's a question of
fairness," he said.
Puerto Rican Independence Party leader Ruben Berrios, however,
said a likely close vote for statehood would prompt Congress to show
its reluctance to annex an island with its own language, culture and
traditions. Ultimately, Berrios said, "independence is the only way
out."
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