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Washington DC The next chair of the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, Democrat Joe Manchin (West Virginia), said today that he does not have enough information to make an opinion on a state’s proposals for Puerto Rico and Washington DC.
However, Manchin reiterated that he will not support the abolition of the filibustering rule, which requires 60 out of 100 senate votes to pass a final vote.
Senator Manchin, who will chair the Senate committee with primary jurisdiction over Puerto Rico, was initially asked on CNN whether he would support Washington DC state. “I don’t know enough, I want to know the pros and cons. I want to see all the data. I am open to see everything, ‘said Manchin.
When asked the same question about Puerto Rico, Manchin replied: “Same thing, I need more information about that.”
Beginning January 21, once President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris take office, the Senate will be under the control of Democrats. Harris, as President of the Senate, will be the 51st vote to cut ties because after Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff’s victories in Georgia, in the second round in Georgia, the Democrats will have 50 senators and the Republicans 50.
The next leader of the Senate Democratic majority, Charles Schumer (New York), recently told El Nuevo Día that the referendum of November 3 last year – in which the state achieved 52.5% – reflected that Puerto Ricans are still divided . on the issue of the island’s political future and awaiting a consensus on a “fair trial”.
“It is Puerto Ricans who must determine the political status of the island and Congress must respect the will of the people. I hear from leaders all over Puerto Rico, in New York and on the island, and there is no consensus yet, there is division. I am waiting for that consensus. I think I should not impose my opinion, but wait for a consensus to emerge. And that’s all I say about a state. If there is a strong consensus, I will follow it in whatever direction it goes, ”said Schumer in the interview with this medium.
Last week, Washington’s resident commissioner Jenniffer González said she hopes Governor Pedro Pierluisi, as the top elected official attached to the Democrats, will lead Schumer to “May come to your senses.”
Since August 2013, following the 2012 plebiscite, the United States Senate has not convened a hearing to investigate the debate over the island’s political status.
There has been no public hearing on the status in the House of Representatives since 2015.
The chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Natural Resources, Democrat Raúl Grijalva (Arizona), said The new day following the November plebiscite that will not prevent a state proposal for the island, but warned it must have a chance of success to make progress, urging Commissioner González to seek Republican support.
Statehood votes for Washington DC
Democratic leadership of the House of Representatives has indicated that it will vote again on the bill to turn Washington DC into the 51st state, which was approved by Democratic votes only in June 2020, but never in the Senate.
The new state-in-favor legislation for Washington DC already has 202 co-sponsors, without the approval of speaker Nancy Pelosi. Democrats have 222 lawmakers in the lower house.
In the Senate, the Republican leadership – led by Mitch McConnell (Kentucky) – has rejected the state for Puerto Rico. McConnell sees its own initiatives for Washington DC and Puerto Rico as part of the Democrats’ “radical socialist agenda.” Commissioner González has not specified whether she has had the meeting with McConnell that she has been seeking since the senator ruled out a state for the island in the summer of 2019.
Democrats advocating for a state for Puerto Rico generally thought that a state would help them gain control in the Senate, given the clear tendency in favor of the Democrats of Puerto Ricans living in the United States.