THIS YOU HAVE ABLY ACCOMPLISHED WITH HR 856. THE STATUS OPTIONS AS DEFINED IN THE BILL - COMMONWEALTH, INDEPENDENCE OR FREE ASSOCIATION AND STATEHOOD CLEARLY MEET THE CHAIRMEN'S TEST. THEY SHOULD STAND AS WRITTEN SO THE SELF-DETERMINATION PROCESS WILL OFFER STATUS OPTIONS WHICH, UNLIKE THE 1993 PLEBISCITE, CONSTITUTIONAL IMPLEMENTATION. ARE CAPABLE OF TAKE THE STATEHOOD DEFINITION FOR EXAMPLE. PUERTO RICANS WILL BE WELL INFORMED OF WHAT STATEHOOD MEANS UNDER THIS DEFINITION. THEY WILL KNOW THAT STATEHOOD WILL END THEIR SECOND CLASS US CITIZENSHIP, THAT THEY WILL BE ABLE TO VOTE FOR PRESIDENT AND MEMBERS OF CONGRESS, THAT UNITED STATES CITIZENSHIP FOR THOSE BORN IN PUERTO RICAN WILL FOREVER BE GUARANTEED, THAT THERE WILL BE FULL FUNDING OF FEDERAL PROGRAMS, THAT LIKE ALL OTHER STATES OF THE UNION PUERTO RICO CAN CONTINUE TO HAVE BOTH ENGLISH AND SPANISH AS ITS OFFICIAL LANGUAGES. THUS, EVERY ATTEMPT TO TAMPER WITH THE STATEHOOD DEFINITION MUST BE RESISTED. PARTICULARLY WITH REGARD TO LANGUAGE. AN ENGLISH-ONLY REQUIREMENT THAT WOULD REQUIRE A STATE OF PUERTO RICO TO ADOPT ENGLISH AS ITS OFFICIAL LANGUAGE WOULD NOT ONLY FAIL THE TEST OF CONSTITUTIONALITY UNDER THE TENTH AMENDMENT BUT, QUITE CANDIDLY, SERVE AS TROJAN HORSE USED BY STATEHOOD OPPONENTS TO UNDERMINE HR 856 BY DENYING THEN PEOPLE OF PUERTO RICO THE CHANCE FOR A FAIR STATUS VOTE. LASTLY, THE CONSTITUTION ASIDE, WE SHOULD RECOGNIZE IN THIS SHRINKING WORLD THAT BUILDING LINGUISTIC BRIDGES WILL ENRICH THIS NATION. OUR REPUBLICAN PARTY'S PLATFORM AGREES: "WE ADVOCATE FOREIGN LANGUAGE TRAINING IN OUR SCHOOLS AND RETENTION OF HERITAGE LANGUAGES IN HOMES AND CULTURAL INSTITUTIONS. FOREIGN LANGUAGE FLUENCY IS ALSO AN ESSENTIAL COMPONENT OF AMERICA'S COMPETITIVENESS IN THE WORLD MARKET." THUS WE SHOULD FOSTER INCREASED LANGUAGE EDUCATION THROUGHOUT THE UNITED STATES TO PROVIDE OUR CURRENT AND FUTURE BUSINESS AND POLITICAL LEADERS WITH MULTI-LINGUAL FACILITIES. SIMILARLY, HR 856 WISELY SEEKS TO PROMOTE INCREASED UNDERSTANDING AND USE OF ENGLISH IN PUERTO RICO. A LANGUAGE SKILL NOT ONLY NECESSARY TO PARTICIPATE FULLY IN AMERICAN SOCIETY BUT EQUALLY IMPORTANT AS A TOOL FOR COMMERCIAL SUCCESS. IN CONCLUSION, THE COMMITTEE IS TO BE COMMENDED FOR ITS EFFORTS AND ENCOURAGED TO HAVE THE BILL PASSED BY THE FULL HOUSE AS IT NOW STANDS. ANY LAST MINUTE ATTEMPTS TO CHANGE THE BILL IN ANY WAY SHOULD BE VIEWED WITH HEALTHY SKEPTICISM SINCE, MORE LIKELY THAN NOT, THESE EFFORTS WILL BE UNDERTAKEN WITH THE ULTIMATE GOAL OF EITHER DEFEATING THE LEGISLATION OR COMPROMISING THE PLEBISCITE'S OUTCOME IN ADVANCE. PUERTO RICO IS AMERICA'S LONGEST HELD TERRITORY TO HAVE NEITHER BECOME A STATE NOR GAINED ITS INDEPENDENCE. PUERTO RICO STANDS AS AN ANOMALY TO THE REST OF THE FREE WORLD, THE MOST POPULOUS COLONY OF DISENFRANCHISED CITIZENS ADMINISTERED BY THE FOREMOST DEMOCRACY AND SELF-DETERMINATION. CHAMPION OF PUERTO RICO HAS ENDURED HALF A MILLENNIUM OF COLONIAL RULE. PUERTO RICO MUST, IT DEMANDS, THAT IT ENTER THE NEW MILLENNIUM IN FULL CONTROL OF ITS DESTINY AS EITHER A STATE OR AS AN INDEPENDENT NATION. PASSAGE OF THE UNITED STATES-PUERTO RICO POLITICAL STATUS ACT WILL SERVE AMERICA AND PUERTO RICO WELL, AT HOME AND ABROAD. THANK YOU. Mr. KENNEDY. I would like to have Etienne Totti del Valle. STATEMENT OF ETIENNE TOTTI DEL VALLE, ESQUIRE, SAN JUAN, PUERTO RICO Mr. TOTTI DEL VALLE. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I know you must be tired, and I appreciate your patience. If you are tired after several hours of this, imagine how the people of Puerto Rico feel after centuries of the same old debate. I earnestly hope what I have to say will do honor to the generations as proud as I am of our heritage and loyalty to the principles embodied in the Declaration of Independence, who have passed from this life with the unanswered hope of leaving a legacy of true democracy and equality for the future generations of our beloved boriquen. Let us consider some objective facts. In 1917, the Jones Act granted U.S. citizenship to Puerto Ricans. The logical and natural expectation that this would lead to incorporation of the island into the United States and therefore to statehood was soon derailed by the U.S. decision in the Supreme Court of People v. Balzac, which branded Puerto Rico as an unincorporated territory. This is my passport. It is no different from the passport of millions of fellow citizens that reside in the 50 States. Our citizenship is unqualified. In this regard, I respectfully urge the Committee to reconsider the drafting of Finding 2 in Section 2 of H.R. 856, specifically where it states that Congress extended-and I quote-special statutory U.S. citizenship to persons born in Puerto Rico. The Jones act made no reference to special citizenship. Three generations of Puerto Ricans in my family have proudly served in the Armed Forces of our Nation. Just as our passports are no different, our uniforms are no different. We have no labels allusive to special statutory citizenship. We are indeed special in many ways, but from the standpoint of citizenship, we Puerto Ricans are as strong as the strongest link that bonds the proud people of the United States of America. Labeling our citizenship as special can foster misunderstanding. Those of us born in Puerto Rico after the 2nd of March, 1917, were born citizens of our great and glorious Nation. Puerto Rican Americans have died in the stars and stripes uniform since before you were born. Nearly 4 million citizens live in Puerto Rico. The number of Puerto Ricans living in the mainland has been estimated at 2.5 million. The population of the United States at last count did not reach 300 million. It is a fact that more than 1 out of every 50 U.S. citizens alive today is Puerto Rican. More than 1 out of every 80 Americans lives in Puerto Rico. It is time, once and for all, to debunk the myth that Puerto Ricans are objectively speaking, anything other than U.S. citizens. Subjective identity is another matter. No single subjective identity, whether based on ethnicity, culture, religion, or origin, is incompatible with U.S. citizenship. As a former chief justice of the Puerto Rico Supreme Court, Emilio del Toro in 1911 wrote: The United States of America was founded upon such stable principles as would permit the conglom |