A bipartisan group of representatives, although mostly Democrats, unveiled legislation on May 19 that would grant Puerto Rico a path to statehood.
The group, led by House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-N.Y.) and joined by Reps. Darren Soto (D-Fla.), Nydia Velazquez (D-N.Y.), Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), and Puerto Rico’s Resident Commissioner Jenniffer González-Colón, a Republican, hopes to end what they have described as Puerto Rico’s “colonial status.”
Specifically, the bill would allow for a plebiscite, a vote of all Puerto Ricans to decide their status relative to the United States. Voters could choose to become independent, petition to join the United States as the 51st state, or maintain some other tie to the Untied States….