Kendra S. Horn: “I feel very strongly in support of the amendment offered by the gentleman from New York. I will support it. But I will…”

“I feel very strongly in support of the amendment offered by the gentleman from New York. I will support it. But I will also vote against this bill. We have a wonderful Resident Commissioner here from Puerto Rico. There is excellent representation from Guam, the District of Columbia, Virgin Islands, American Samoa. But I think this is just wrong public policy. We should not be raising false expectations of any group. I think the one way to do it is to say right now, let us not kid ourselves, this is not a good idea. Puerto Rico is the result of the Spanish-American War. It has a wonderful people. What the gentleman from Mississippi said is absolutely correct. Many of them have given their lives for our country. There are also wonderful people in Guam, Saipan, the Virgin Islands, American Samoa, and the District of Columbia. Mr. Chairman, I would say to the gentlewoman from the District of Columbia that we can solve the District's problem very easily and do what Congress did in the Nineteenth Century when it ceded back to Virginia that part of the District of Columbia which had been carved out of Virginia. Give it back to Maryland, and the District would have full representation. But Puerto Rico should never have been a territory. Cuba was never a territory. Cuba has been independent.”