Consider as constitutionally viable only to start holding hearings on how the American Citizens residents of Puerto Rico can have equal rights and government by the consent of the governed.

No one in Puerto Rico wants independence, nor continue to be confused with political status alternatives which do not fit within the U.S. constitutional framework.

I respectfully suggest that you consider proposing to Congress to declare Puerto Rico officially an Incorporated Territory of the United States in transit to statehood.

If you really believe in democracy, justice, government by the consent of the governed, you must not hesitate any further or give any more excuses.

A majority of voters in Puerto Rico have requested statehood, now Congress must respond by officially offering it and allowing voters on the island to ratify their choice in a binding vote.

Congress must immediately end its inherently colonial territorial rule over Puerto Rico, because it violates America's values of democracy, equal justice under the law, and government by the consent of the governed.

We are natural born U.S. citizens and want an equal seat at the table in the federal government that writes and implements the laws that we live under.

To turn around and tell voters to go back to the drawing board and re-define multiple other options which the majority has rejected three times in the last eight years in favor of statehood, would not only be insulting to us, but…

I want to thank the Department for submitting the information to the Committee in a timely manner.

We are meeting today for a second day of hearings on H.R. 1522, the Puerto Rico Statehood Admission Act, and H.R. 2070, the Puerto Rico Self-Determination Act of 2021.

I recognize this Committee's responsibility in playing a leading and constructive role in resolving this issue.