White house not sure on puerto rico statehood

Marcus Atkinson

HispanicOhio.com editor

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The Obama administration is a bit mixed on whether or not to move forward on facilitating statehood for the commonwealth of Puerto Rico.

On Election Day 54 percent of Puerto Ricans voted to change their status as a commonwealth, of those 54 percent, 61 percent said they want statehood.

“To clarify, the results were clear, the people of Puerto Rico want the issue of status resolved, and majority chose statehood in the second question,” White House spokesman Luis Miranda said in a statement. “Now it is time for Congress to act and the administration will work with them on that effort, so that the people of Puerto Rico can determine their own future.”

However, another White House official has a different take on the election results.

But just yesterday, White House press secretary Jay Carney demurred when asked whether President Barack Obama would help advance the cause of Puerto Rican statehood in his second term, and he demurred.

“I think the outcome was a little less clear”, white house press secretary, Jay Carney said, citing the ballot process of having a follow up question.

Pedro Pierluisi, the Puerto Rican non-voting representative to Congress supports statehood aligns with Democrats and was a staunch backer of Obama during the 2008 and 2012 elections.

Ohio State Rep. Daniel Ramos (D-Lorain) has sponsored a resolution which was introduced to the state House last week asking Congress to respect the voting results of statehood and help Puerto Rico become the 51^st state to the Union.