The Federal Government cannot say that we "remain, as it is today, subject to the Territory Clause of the U.S. Constitution" in order to deny Puerto Rico the powers to solve our economic and social crisis, and now turn around and say they…

I fully support this bill.

Yet, here we are in 2015, and instead of open democratic self-determination, the ideological faction clinging to the status quo insists on obstructing the will of the people as so clearly expressed in the 2012 plebiscite.

The 3.5 million U.S. citizens of Puerto Rico get it. That is why a 54 percent majority voted to end the current status in the plebiscite of 2012.

Yet, instead of open democratic self-determination, the ideological faction clinging to the status quo insists on obstructing the will of the people.

That is why a 54 percent majority voted to end the current status in the plebiscite of 2012.

There is no legal basis for assigning a meaning to blank ballots on the second question in the 2012 vote.

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.

This Congress must address the issue and consider enacting a bill to provide for the admission of Puerto Rico as a state.

We are, as a matter of fact, the world's last colony with more than 1 million (1,000,000) inhabitants.

The solid majority vote for statehood in 2012 cannot be ignored.