House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer, D-Md., said the United States should upgrade Puerto Rico to a state now that the territory’s residents voted in favor of it in a weekend referendum.
“The voters who participated in Puerto Rico’s status referendum expressed an unambiguous desire to continue seeking a future in common with the United States as an equal member of our union,” Hoyer said Monday. “I hope Congress and the administration will listen to those voices and enable Puerto Rico to become the 51st state. Its people — already American citizens — deserve full and equal representation in the Congress and equal treatment by federal agencies.”
Puerto Rico has been vying for statehood for decades.
Because a majority voted in favor of statehood, the Puerto Rican government can petition Congress for statehood. But it would require a majority vote in the House and Senate as well as approval from the president, which is unlikely.
Critics of the referendum noted that the 23 percent voter turnout was extremely low and signaled a lack of support by most residents.
Puerto Rico is in the midst of an economic crisis brought on partly by massive government debt. Many residents, who are U.S. citizens, are fleeing the island for the U.S. mainland.
