Peter Deutsch: “Mr. Chairman, this is truly a historic debate in this Congress. This is my sixth year as a Member of this Congress. It…”

“Mr. Chairman, this is truly a historic debate in this Congress. This is my sixth year as a Member of this Congress. It is the first time we are really talking about an issue about the fundamental union of our States. That is really what we are talking about. In this Chamber over the last 100 years, and before that in the other Chamber just down the hall for 100 years before that, or just about, this is the kind of debates that went on. Unless it was one of the first original 13 colonies, each State went through a process. There were different debates and different things that went through that process. But that is where we are now. I think part of the acknowledgment of this bill is something that obviously is controversial, but I think the fact, and people can debate it, is that the status of Commonwealth is an unstable equilibrium. In a sense, the bill acknowledges that. It can continue, but it cannot continue indefinitely. The process of the legislation specifically puts that into statute, and that is why it is critical that this legislation pass.”