THE LARGE and important burden of removing the asterisk from the
American citizenship of residents of Puerto Rico now rests on the
Senate. The House has done its bit by agreeing for the first time not
simply to define the island's political options but also to commit
Congress to honor Puerto Rico's choice among them. President Clinton
is eager to proceed. But 100 years after the United States took the
territory from Spain, the Senate still isn't sure. Republican majority
leader Trent Lott doubts there's time to legislate before Congress
adjourns in October.
Enough House Republicans came aboard to pass Puerto Rico
legislation -- by one vote. The going in the Senate is harder. The key
committee chairman, Frank Murkowski, has now drafted a bill meant to
calm critics without compromising the core purpose of ensuring full
self-determination. It obliges the president to draw up a multi-year
implementation program, but it does not oblige him to put the plan
into effect. It authorizes a plebiscite scheme but does not commit
Congress to honor its results. A process thus begun by law would be
expected to be carried forward by moral commitment and political
momentum.
That many Democrats favor legislation is often taken as evidence
that a Puerto Rican choice of statehood would be to the national
Democrats' political advantage. But who can be sure? The political
experts guessed wrong on both Alaska and Hawaii. The national vote in
a new state of Puerto Rico -- in a new context of rising Hispanic
voting -- wouldn't begin for 10 or more years. Then, the English-only
Republicans profess a concern for the changing fabric of American
society. But statehood would not of itself add any Spanish-speakers.
The English-only cry risks becoming a right-wing hot button.
To force the congressional pace, the pro-statehood governor of
Puerto Rico, Pedro Rossello, is asking the island's willing
legislature to hold a plebiscite on Dec. 13. The choices would be to
continue commonwealth, to initiate statehood or to initiate
independence. The plebiscite's terms would be shaped to the
legislation pending in Congress. One hundred years after the imperial
fact, it is past time to repudiate a colonial-type system that denies
Puerto Ricans full vote and voice in national law-making and much
else.
