Puerto Rico Votes Overwhelmingly to Become the 51st State

In yet another round of voting to determine whether or not U.S. Territory Puerto Rico would become the 51st State in America, the tally is finally in and the results were shocking.  Although less than 25% of the population of only 3.5M people voted in this referendum on statehood, the Puerto Ricans who did make it out to the polling places stood in near solidarity as a full 97.3% of the voters opted for statehood.

Turnout in the election was low, with initial statistics showing below 25 percent of voters went to the polls. The island’s major opposition party, the Popular Democratic Party, boycotted the election. Two other political parties that don’t support statehood also boycotted the election.

The Department of Justice did not back the referendum.

This is only the second time since these referendums for statehood have been held that citizens in the island territory have voted in favor of becoming a State.  Back in 2012, a similar referendum was offered. On November 6, 2012, the two-question referendum occurred concurrent with the general election. The first question asked voters whether they wanted to maintain the current status under the territorial clause of the U.S. Constitution. The second question posed three alternate status options if the first question was approved: statehood, independence or free association. For the first question, 54 percent voted against the current Commonwealth status. For the second question, 61.16% voted for statehood, 33.34% for a sovereign free associated state, and 5.49% for independence.

Coinciding with these results however, there were massive problems with over a half-million ballots that were either blank or invalidated for other reasons, deleting their tally in the final rosters. The Obama White House in 2013, while the debate was still raging as to the results for statehood, signed an order to appropriate the funding for yet another referendum, which has just taken place.

Just under two years ago, Nancy Pelosi was lobbying on the floor of the House for a bail out of the financially strapped territory and introduced legislation that would temporarily block any legal action by creditors while Congress moved to restructure the island’s debt.

According to Breitbart at that time:

The Obama Administration has floated its own plan to give Puerto Rico access to bankruptcy courts, as a means of slashing its outstanding debts. Obama’s bailout plan would also create an “independent” board to oversee the territory’s fiscal affairs.

While a federal bailout of Puerto Rico carries political risks, according to Pelosi, House GOP Speaker Paul Ryan has committed to taking up possible bailout legislation when Congress returns in early January.

Last Friday, Pelosi wrote to her colleagues informing them that Ryan “agreed to take action on restructuring legislation by March 31, 2016, and last evening, he committed to start that process with a hearing on our first day back in January.”

Pelosi had sought debt relief for Puerto Rico as part of the omnibus spending bill that recently passed Congress. According to Pelosi, the assurance from Ryan that “[o]n March 31, we’ll have something done [on Puerto Rico]” was in exchange for not including the issue in Congress’ final spending bill.

In fact, in that same month of December, Puerto Rico paid out $120M in Christmas bonuses to all government workers as a matter of the island’s law. Knowing full well that they were on the hook for a $900M payment to the U.S. government a month later and also a debt amount of $2B by July, they still opted to pay out the bonuses.

Some detractors of U.S. government intervention actually blame the U.S. for the debt problems, noting that the island’s financial problems have all arisen BECAUSE of the American interference. To some measure, they are not far off from the truth. It’s the old adage about the children mimicking the parent. When Puerto Rico’s government operates, it is actually just a microcosm of the U.S. federal government and for Washington to look down its nose at the island for its indiscretions is outlandishly hypocritical. That, of course, does not excuse Puerto Rican officials of their lack of wisdom and oversight.

In the end, the Attorney General Jeff Sessions will not act on this referendum, despite is overwhelming majority for statehood. Due to the debt crisis it finds itself in, the federal government would be foolish to take in another debtor state. That said, we just may see 51 stars on our American flag in the next decade.

Question is, where the heck is that star gonna fit?

Source: Washington Examiner / Breitbart