Clearly that is a significant increase.

There has been no ultimate achievement in Puerto Rico's political status.

I appear before you as Governor of Puerto Rico. As you know, I am also President of the New Progressive Party, which advocates statehood as a final solution for the island's more than a century old status issue.

the reasons to support this bill are so self-evident they should not have to be argued.

I want to thank, commend Resident Commissioner Pierluisi for his leadership in introducing this bill, thus bringing his 4 million strong constituency of disenfranchised American citizens one step closer to true self-determination.

I want to commend both of you for your leadership in bringing forward the discussion of this fundamental issue of American democracy.

asking makes all the difference in the world.

I want to commend Resident Commissioner Pierluisi for his leadership in introducing this bill.

Clearly, the framers of the Constitution did not intend some American citizens to be deprived of rights that other American citizens enjoy.

The urgency over this matter is not only Puerto Rico's, but the Nation's.

Is this Nation not dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal?