Political Quotes

“I rise in strong support of the underlying legislation. I know that Mr. Pierluisi, who was elected to represent Puerto Rico in the Congress of the United States as their representative, has worked long and hard on this bill, as have so many of his predecessors. When I came to Congress, Carlos Barcelo was the representative of Puerto Rico, and he was for this. That was 30 years ago, and we're still talking about this. This bill was reported out of committee last July, 30-8. This bill has 181 cosponsors, broad bipartisan support in this Congress. The fact of the matter is that America prides itself on being the beacon for democracy. What this bill does is celebrate democracy in Puerto Rico. I am grieved from time to time when I read that some of our fellow American citizens in Puerto Rico talk about the United States treating Puerto Rico as a colony. I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm not interested in having colonies.”