Tesimony from Puerto Rico Gov. Luis Fortuño
Committee on Natural Resources
June 24, 2009
Thank you, Mr. Chairman and Ranking Member Hastings for the opportunity to appear before this Committee to express my support of H.R. 2499, the Puerto Rico Democracy Act of 2009.
Mr. Chairman, I appear before you as Governor of Puerto Rico. As you know, I am also the president of the New Progressive Party, which advocates statehood as the final solution for the island’s more-than-a-century-old status issue. But today, as Governor, I appear before this Committee in representation of all the residents of the island. I have asked former Governor and former Resident Commissioner—and long-time member of this Committee — Carlos Romero-BarcelĂł to present the official position of the New Progressive Party and he will do so later on this morning.
Mr. Chairman and Ranking Member Hastings, I want to commend both of you for your leadership in bringing fore the discussion of this fundamental issue of American democracy. I also want to commend Resident Commissioner Pierluisi for his leadership in introducing this bill, thus bringing his four million-strong constituency of disenfranchised American citizens one step closer to true self-determination.
As you know, the right of the U.S. citizens of Puerto Rico to decide their political future was one of my priorities when I served in Congress and on this Committee from 2005 until last year—when I was elected Governor—and continues to be a top priority of my administration. For that reason, I was especially grateful to President Obama for the commitment he expressed not just to me, but to the people of Puerto Rico, on the occasion of my inauguration as Governor, to work together to ensure that the issue of Puerto Rico’s ultimate political status is finally resolved during the first four years of his Administration.
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