Legislative Hearing Committee on Natural

Legislative Hearing Committee on Natural

H.R. 1522, ‘‘PUERTO RICO STATEHOOD ADMISSION ACT’’; AND H.R. 2070, ‘‘PUERTO RICO SELF- DETERMINATION ACT OF 2021’’ LEGISLATIVE HEARING BEFORE THE COMMITTEE ON NATURAL RESOURCES U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES ONE HUNDRED SEVENTEENTH CONGRESS FIRST SESSION Wednesday, April 14, 2021 Serial No. 117–3 Printed for the use of the Committee on Natural Resources ( Available via the World Wide Web: http://www.govinfo.gov or Committee address: http://naturalresources.house.gov U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE 44–272 PDF WASHINGTON : 2021 COMMITTEE ON NATURAL RESOURCES RAU´ L M. GRIJALVA, AZ, Chair JESU´ S G. ‘‘CHUY’’ GARCI´A, IL, Vice Chair GREGORIO KILILI CAMACHO SABLAN, CNMI, Vice Chair, Insular Affairs BRUCE WESTERMAN, AR, Ranking Member Grace F. Napolitano, CA Don Young, AK Jim Costa, CA Louie Gohmert, TX Gregorio Kilili Camacho Sablan, CNMI Doug Lamborn, CO Jared Huffman, CA Robert J. Wittman, VA Alan S. Lowenthal, CA Tom McClintock, CA Ruben Gallego, AZ Paul A. Gosar, AZ Joe Neguse, CO Garret Graves, LA Mike Levin, CA Jody B. Hice, GA Katie Porter, CA Aumua Amata Coleman Radewagen, AS Teresa Leger Ferna´ndez, NM Daniel Webster, FL Nydia M. Vela´zquez, NY Jenniffer Gonza´lez-Colo´n, PR Diana DeGette, CO Russ Fulcher, ID Julia Brownley, CA Pete Stauber, MN Debbie Dingell, MI Thomas P. Tiffany, WI A. Donald McEachin, VA Jerry L. Carl, AL Darren Soto, FL Matthew M. Rosendale, Sr., MT Michael F. Q. San Nicolas, GU Blake D. Moore, UT Jesu´ s G. ‘‘Chuy’’ Garcı´a, IL Yvette Herrell, NM Ed Case, HI Lauren Boebert, CO Betty McCollum, MN Jay Obernolte, CA Steve Cohen, TN Cliff Bentz, OR Paul Tonko, NY Rashida Tlaib, MI Doris O. Matsui, CA Lori Trahan, MA David Watkins, Staff Director Sarah Lim, Chief Counsel Vivian Moeglein, Republican Staff Director http://naturalresources.house.gov (II) CONTENTS Page Hearing held on Wednesday, April 14, 2021 ......................................................... 1 Statement of Members: Gonza´lez-Colo´n, Hon. Jenniffer, a Resident Commissioner in Congress from the Territory of Puerto Rico ................................................................ 4 Prepared statement of ............................................................................... 5 Grijalva, Hon. Rau´ l M., a Representative in Congress from the State of Arizona ...................................................................................................... 2 Prepared statement of ............................................................................... 3 Vela´zquez, Hon. Nydia, a Representative in Congress from the State of New York ................................................................................................... 9 Westerman, Hon. Bruce, a Representative in Congress from the State of Arkansas .................................................................................................... 6 Prepared statement of ............................................................................... 7 Statement of Witnesses: Acevedo-Vila´, Hon. Anı´bal, Former Governor, Popular Democratic Party, San Juan, Puerto Rico .................................................................................. 49 Prepared statement of ............................................................................... 50 De Lourdes Santiago, Hon. Marı´a, Senator, Puerto Rico Independence Party, San Juan, Puerto Rico ...................................................................... 53 Prepared statement of ............................................................................... 54 Fuentes Agostini, Jose´, Chair, Puerto Rico Statehood Council, Washington, DC ............................................................................................ 22 Prepared statement of ............................................................................... 23 Herna´ndez Montan˜ ez, Hon. Rafael, Speaker, Puerto Rico House of Representatives, San Juan, Puerto Rico ..................................................... 46 Prepared statement of ............................................................................... 47 Natal-Albelo, Hon. Manuel, President, Citizens Victory Movement, San Juan, Puerto Rico ................................................................................. 57 Prepared statement of ............................................................................... 58 Pierluisi, Hon. Pedro R., Governor of Puerto Rico, San Juan, Puerto Rico ................................................................................................................. 10 Prepared statement of ............................................................................... 12 Ponsa-Kraus, Christina D., Professor of Law, Columbia Law School, New York, New York ................................................................................... 44 Prepared statement of ............................................................................... 45 Ve´lez-Garcı´a, Johanne, Vice President, Puerto Rico Democratic Party, San Juan, Puerto Rico .................................................................................. 17 Prepared statement of ............................................................................... 18 Additional Materials Submitted for the Record: List of documents submitted for the record retained in the Committee’s official files .................................................................................................... 141 Submissions for the Record by Resident Commissioner Gonza´lez-Colo´n Keren Riquelme Cabrera, Puerto Rico Senator at Large, Letter to Chairman Grijalva and Ranking Member Westerman ....................... 98 Puerto Rico Young Republican Federation—Statement for the Record in Support of H.R. 1522 ........................................................................ 99 Pedro R. Pierluisi, Governor of Puerto Rico—Letter to Congressional Leadership Supporting H.R. 1522 & S. 780 ........................................ 100 Letter signed by 47 Legal and Constitutional Scholars Supporting H.R. 1522 & S. 780 ................................................................................ 101 Letter signed by 51 Organizations Supporting H.R. 1522 & S. 780 ..... 104 (III) IV Page Additional Materials Submitted for the Record—Continued Submissions for the Record by Resident Commissioner Gonza´lez-Colo´n— Continued Jose´ F. Aponte-Herna´ndez, Former Speaker of the House of Representatives of Puerto Rico and Representative at Large— Statement for the Record on H.R. 1522 ............................................... 107 Civil Rights Coalition for Puerto Rico Statehood, Letter to House and Senate in Support of H.R. 1522 & S. 780 ..................................... 119 Puerto Rico Estadidad, Letter to House and Senate with over 100 citizen signatures in Support of H.R. 1522 & S. 780 .......................... 122 Milagros G. Lo´pez Campos, Municipal Legislator of Carolina, Puerto Rico, Statement for the Record in Support of H.R. 1522 .................... 126 Gregoria Igartua, Domestic and International Legal Advice LLC, Statement for the Record in Support of H.R. 1522 ............................. 127 Ricardo Marrero-Passapera, Candidate for Puerto Rico Congressional Delegation, Letter to Chair Grijalva and Ranking Member Westerman in Support of H.R. 1522 .................................................... 133 Democratic Party of Puerto Rico, Letter to Rep. Joaquin Castro in Support of H.R. 1522 ............................................................................. 137 Submissions for the Record by Rep. Soto Steny H. Hoyer, Majority Leader of the U.S. House of Representa- tives, Testimony for the Record ............................................................ 139 Submissions for the Record by Rep. Vela´zquez Status, Our People and Right to Vote, by Victoria Mun˜ oz Mendoza and He´ctor Luis Acevedo, El Nuevo Dı´a, March 25, 2021 ................. 140 LEGISLATIVE HEARING ON H.R. 1522, TO PRO- VIDE FOR THE ADMISSION OF THE STATE OF PUERTO RICO INTO THE UNION, ‘‘PUERTO RICO STATEHOOD ADMISSION ACT’’; AND H.R. 2070, TO RECOGNIZE THE RIGHT OF THE PEOPLE OF PUERTO RICO TO CALL A STATUS CONVENTION THROUGH WHICH THE PEOPLE WOULD EXERCISE THEIR NATURAL RIGHT TO SELF- DETERMINATION, AND TO ESTABLISH A MECHANISM FOR CONGRESSIONAL CONSID- ERATION OF SUCH DECISION, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES, ‘‘PUERTO RICO SELF- DETERMINATION ACT OF 2021’’ Wednesday, April 14, 2021 U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Natural Resources Washington, DC The Committee met, pursuant to notice, at 1 p.m., via Webex, Hon. Rau´ l M. Grijalva [Chairman of the Committee] presiding. Present: Representatives Grijalva, Napolitano, Costa, Sablan, Huffman, Lowenthal, Gallego, Neguse, Porter, Leger Ferna´ndez, Vela´zquez, DeGette, Brownley, Dingell, McEachin, Soto, Garcı´a, Case, McCollum, Tlaib; Westerman, Young, Lamborn, Gosar, Graves, Radewagen, Webster, Gonza´lez-Colo´n, Fulcher, Stauber, Tiffany, Moore, Herrell, and Obernolte. Also present: Representative Torres. The CHAIRMAN. Thank you very much. The Committee will come to order. The Committee is meeting today to receive testimony on two bills to address Puerto Rico’s future political status. Under Committee Rule 4(f), any oral opening statements of the hearing are limited to the Chair and the Ranking Minority Member or their designees. This will allow us to hear from our witnesses sooner and help Members keep to their schedules. However, for today’s hearing, we will allow main sponsors to make a statement in support of their legislation

View Full Text

Details

  • File Type
    pdf
  • Upload Time
    -
  • Content Languages
    English
  • Upload User
    Anonymous/Not logged-in
  • File Pages
    147 Page
  • File Size
    -

Download

Channel Download Status
Express Download Enable

Copyright

We respect the copyrights and intellectual property rights of all users. All uploaded documents are either original works of the uploader or authorized works of the rightful owners.

  • Not to be reproduced or distributed without explicit permission.
  • Not used for commercial purposes outside of approved use cases.
  • Not used to infringe on the rights of the original creators.
  • If you believe any content infringes your copyright, please contact us immediately.

Support

For help with questions, suggestions, or problems, please contact us