Six Puerto Rican Congressmen Go to Washington

Abstract

After io8 years as a colony1 of the United States, Puerto Rico continues to search for a dignified solution to its status of political subordination. Although Puerto Ricans have been U.S. citizens since 1917,2 they cannot vote in federal elections and have no say in the enactment, application, or administration of the federal laws and regulations that shape their lives. They are also denied the right to govern themselves without federal intrusion. A century of bitter internal debate, conspicuous federal neglect, and countless frustrated efforts at reform has failed to produce consensus on how to address this manifest lack of democracy. However, while the island's internal divisions reflect profound disagreements about politics, economics, and culture, Puerto Ricans from all political persuasions agree on the need to solve, at a minimum, the grossest democratic inequities of Puerto Rico's relationship with the United States. Unfortunately, the search for grand, permanent solutions to Puerto Rico's status may have dampened the search for pragmatic short-term alternatives. While the debate over the political future of the island has sputtered in Puerto Rico and Washington, Congress is currently considering a bold proposal to address the undemocratic status of another disenfranchised territory. The District of Columbia House Voting Rights Act of 2007 (H.R. 1433) attempts to end the congressional disenfranchisement of District of Columbia residents by treating the District as a state for purposes of