Luis Fortuno

The solution emanates without a fair distribution of power between the people of Puerto Rico and the Congress of the United States.

We should also go down there to fill our minds with their ideas, their aspirations, and their dreams.

Where are the jobs? Where is the economic opportunity? Where is the possibility for the people of Puerto Rico?

Puerto Rico is a colony of the United States of America. Puerto Rico is war booty from the war in 1898.

The Congress of the United States retains plenary powers over everything in Puerto Rico, not just the status of Puerto Rico.

I believe that the rules in the country should apply in the same way for creditors and debtors across the country.

How can anybody that says that they believe in democracy and that they want the U.S. citizenship, not want to participate in the democratic process of the nation they are citizens with?

I wouldn't have the gall to go any place and say, 'I am a Democrat, I believe in democracy, but I don't want to have the right to vote or the right to representation.'

The only way to address this situation whereby our constitutional rights are never the same if we live in a territory is to either move to one of the 50 states or become a state.

The current economic crisis is a cruel manifestation that territorial status is not a sustainable model for the political economy of America's last large and populous territory.

The most logical and democratic way for Congress to know where we stand as Americans is to allow us an up-or-down vote to confirm or overturn the 2012 results.

We remain strongest when we are united.

Do not give up on Puerto Rico and the USVI.

There is no room, there should be no room for partisan politics in dealing with this issue.

I would say if you want to make a lot of money, just move to Washington and open a smoke-and-mirror shop.

Today, Puerto Rico is serving as the first line of defense in the Caribbean to prevent drugs and violence from reaching the U.S. mainland.

We must ensure Puerto Rico is included in National border security and drug trafficking strategies.

The goal is to make the Puerto Rico Police a model for Constitutional policing.

Nothing has been done about it. That is the bottom line here.

There is a moral commitment that I have to indeed make sure that we provide Constitutional policing to our constituents.

We have taken swift and decisive action indeed to start changing a culture that took decades to develop.

They deserve an answer.

We need help in fighting this battle along the Caribbean Border, so that we do not have to fight these drug criminals on the streets of our States.

This bill not only endangers the democratic principles that are the foundation of the United States of America but it also does not take into account the will of the majority of the people of Puerto Rico.