Is Puerto Rico Being Forced Down the Path to Statehood?

From the Pittsburgh Tea Party Patriots --

Would you please call the U.S. Representatives today and ask them to vote no on H.R. 2499? This is a trojan horse, middle of the night kind of bill that you may not have heard about yet. The Left is trying to label anyone who votes against this bill as a racist, so all representatives must be called!

TIME TO MELT THE PHONES!

Congress is at it again!

Now they are trying to sneak in a vote that would put Puerto Rico on the path to statehood. The only trouble is, they haven't exactly told US about it (sound familiar??).

Please take a moment and read the information below, then pick up the phone and CALL YOUR CONGRESSIONAL REPRESENTATIVE! ... Then call five friends and ask them to do the same! :)

Click on congressmerge.com/onlinedb/index.htm to get your Representative's best phone numbers. Start with the DC offices, then move on the the LOCAL numbers!

Demand your Representative vote NO on HR 2499

Here's what Andrew Breitbart's BigGovernment.com had to say:

There is a bill to make Puerto Rico a state. Again, they are trying to pull one over on us and on Puerto Ricans, who have consistently said they do not want to become a state. Read below for more information (from Eagle Forum). This was also discussed by Rep Tom Price on a conference call yesterday.

Please consider this:

• The U.S. would transform, overnight, into a bilingual nation. At least half of Puerto Ricans do not speak English, the language of our U.S. Constitution and founding documents. The Washington Times article, "Puerto Rican statehood," analyzes all the implications of adding a foreign language-speaking state to the Union.

• It would bring immediate demands for massive federal spending. The average income of Puerto Ricans is less than half that of our poorest state, and infrastructure and the environment are far below American standards. Puerto Rico has a population with a median national income of $17,741, nearly a third of that for the U.S.

• Puerto Rico is already a democracy. Despite the bill's deceptive title, Puerto Rico already has an elected government and exists as a self-governed commonwealth of the U.S.

• Statehood would give Puerto Rico more congressional representation than 25 of our 50 states! It would inevitably give Democrats two additional U.S. Senators and 6 to 8 additional Members of the House.

H.R. 2499 is stealth legislation designed to lead to the admission of Spanish-speaking Puerto Rico as the 51st state, thereby making us a de facto bilingual nation, like Canada. The U.S. Congress should not be forcing Puerto Ricans to vote on statehood, especially since the Puerto Rican people have rejected statehood three times since 1991!

No Member of Congress who describes himself as a limited government, fiscal conservative should be casting a YEA vote for H.R. 2499, as Puerto Rican statehood would cause an immediate increase in federal expenditures, particularly for taxpayer-funded welfare state services.

The Puerto Rican government is even playing hardball with it own people! Read this by Ann Shibler :

The United States House of Representatives is set to vote on H.R. 2499, the Puerto Rico Democracy Act, as early as this week. This bill would mandate a non-binding expression by the voters of Puerto Rico as to their wishes with regard to retaining their commonwealth status or becoming a state or becoming an independent nation, but in conjunction with other legislation already introduced inside Puerto Rico, the commonwealth status of the island could be eliminated as early as this year.

Three times in the past 43 years Puerto Ricans have voted against becoming the 51st state in the Union, the last time being 11 years ago. But this time the bill is rigged to eliminate the commonwealth option and grant either full statehood, or total independence. Sen. Jose Hernandez-Mayoral of the island's minority Popular Democratic Party said, "Behind this innocuous bill lies a fully thought out assault on Congress to designate the island the 51st state." "With the commonwealth option out of the ballot, statehood is finally, albeit crookedly, assured a victory."

To read the whole article click here.

For the complete text of HR2499 Puerto Rico Democracy Act of 2009 click here.