Two rival bills seeking to resolve Puerto Rico’s status as a U.S. territory will get full hearings in the U.S. House of Representatives’ Natural Resources Committee on April 14, Bloomberg News reported. In a statement on Monday, Committee Chairman Raul Grijalva (D-Ariz.) said that both bills would get a “fair hearing” and that he wouldn’t put his “thumb on the scale.” The Puerto Rico Statehood Admission Act seeks to turn Puerto Rico into the 51st U.S. state by holding a binding “yes” or “no” vote on the island. The Puerto Rico Self-Determination Act would convene a delegation to study all territorial options including independence, statehood and free association. Backers of the bills see them as mutually exclusive. Puerto Rico Governor Pedro Pierluisi, a Democrat who made statehood central to his campaign, has suggested the Self-Determination Act is a ploy to undermine Puerto Rico’s admission to the union. The Caribbean island of 3.2 million has been a U.S. possession since 1898. It’s currently crawling out of a historic bankruptcy aimed at reducing nearly $18 billion of debt.
