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Puerto Rico – 51st State? Congress Scrambling to Make it So

Last night (Tuesday) on his TV show, Glenn Beck dropped another bombshell — on Thursday, Congress will take up a bill to make
Puerto Rico a state. Why is our Congress doing this now? Secretly?
Quickly? If it hadn’t been for one of Beck’s “Refounders” (a
Congressional insider), would we even know about this? Why is this
important to you and me?
Well, the word is out, and my local 9-12/Tea party organization sent
this out this morning. First thing to hit my mailbox, in fact…
There is a bill to make Puerto Rico a state. Again, they are trying to
pull one over on us and on Puerto Ricans, who have consistently said
they do not want to become a state. Read below for more information
(from Eagle Forum). This was also discussed by Rep Tom Price on a
conference call yesterday.
Please consider this:
* The U.S. would transform, overnight, into a bilingual nation. At
least half of Puerto Ricans do not speak English, the language of our
U.S. Constitution and founding documents. The Washington Times article,
“Puerto Rican statehood,” analyzes all the implications of adding a
foreign language-speaking state to the Union.
* It would bring immediate demands for massive federal spending. The
average income of Puerto Ricans is less than half that of our poorest
state, and infrastructure and the environment are far below American
standards. Puerto Rico has a population with a median national income
of $17,741, nearly a third of that for the U.S.
* Puerto Rico is already a democracy. Despite the bill’s deceptive
title, Puerto Rico already has an elected government and exists as a
self-governed commonwealth of the U.S.
* Statehood would give Puerto Rico more congressional representation
than 25 of our 50 states! It would inevitably give Democrats two
additional U.S. Senators and 6 to 8 additional Members of the House.
H.R. 2499 is stealth legislation designed to lead to the admission of
Spanish-speaking Puerto Rico as the 51st state, thereby making us a de
facto bilingual nation, like Canada. The U.S. Congress should not be
forcing Puerto Ricans to vote on statehood, especially since the Puerto
Rican people have rejected statehood three times since 1991!
No Member of Congress who describes himself as a limited government,
fiscal conservative should be casting a YEA vote for H.R. 2499, as
Puerto Rican statehood would cause an immediate increase in federal
expenditures, particularly for taxpayer-funded welfare state services.
Sponsored by Puerto Rican delegate Pedro Pierluisi (D), the Puerto Rico
Democracy Act (H.R. 2499) – which has reared its ugly head a number of
times over the past few congresses but has yet to have any success –
would require Puerto Ricans to hold a national referendum to decide if
they want Puerto Rico to remain a self-governing U.S. commonwealth, or
become the 51st state.
The referendum would be set up as two plebiscites which would
effectively deceive Puerto Ricans into voting for statehood. In the
first round of votes, the Puerto Rican people would be given the choice
between remaining a U.S. territory and “pursuing a different political
status.” If the majority votes to maintain the status quo, this bill
would require that Puerto Rico vote on this same issue every eight
years.
If the majority votes for “different status,” a second round of votes
would be held where Puerto Ricans would choose either statehood or
independence-the status quo of “U.S. territory” would not even be an
option! In other words, the two ballots would be rigged to favor the
outcome of statehood, overriding the wishes of Americans and Puerto
Ricans who want to maintain the current commonwealth status.
* Contact your US congressmen AND
* Take quick action here: http://www.capwiz.com/eagleforum/issues/alert/?alertid=14966151&... [2]

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[2] http://www.capwiz.com/eagleforum/issues/alert/?alertid=14966151&...: http://www.capwiz.com/eagleforum/issues/alert/?alertid=14966151&...

[3] Image: #.