By The Star Staff
Gov. Pedro Pierluisi Urrutia said Wednesday he is not considering convening a status plebiscite that is not binding on Congress if HR 2757, which calls for a binding plebiscite on the choices of statehood, free association and independence, does not become law.
Pierluisi’s remarks came amid questions at a press conference in which statehood supporters, including former governor Ricardo Rosselló Nevares, reviewed efforts made and to be made in favor of HR 2757.
“It is not under consideration now, a referendum in Puerto Rico,” said Pierluisi, who during his trip to Washington, D.C. this week will be meeting with eight Democratic senators. “We have already held many [of those]. They have all ended the same way, supporting statehood. The ball is in Congress’ court, and it [another non-binding plebiscite] is not under consideration.”
Pierluisi, who has insisted that Resident Commissioner Jenniffer González Colón will extend her lobbying for HR 2757 to Democrats, said he believed that she had excused herself from the press conference. Rosselló Nevares, meanwhile, acknowledged that there is still resistance from Republicans to endorse HR 2757, a bill very similar to another approved at the end of the previous Congress, but only in the House of Representatives.
Rosselló Nevares said he was able to feel that position after holding a meeting with the team of Republican Bruce Westerman, chairman of the House Committee on Natural Resources.
“We cannot avoid the reality that there is some resistance that has to be broken down. The justification is not adequate,” the former governor said, alluding to Republican concerns about the alleged lack of time to hold public hearings on the measure. “I urge, and we have discussed it with the extended Republican delegation, that we will share that point in particular with the resident commissioner so that she addresses it.”
“[They say] that there are important issues in Congress and that we have to schedule …” he added.
Rosselló Nevares said the members of the Extended Congressional Delegation for Puerto Rico have held 127 meetings to advance the cause.
During the press conference, Rosselló Nevares thanked Pierluisi “for his leadership” and for allowing all supporters of statehood to move in the same direction.
“With his effort and leadership, the Democratic caucus was tied up on one occasion and this occasion as well,” he said.
Pierluisi, meanwhile, reiterated that the vast majority of Puerto Ricans oppose the commonwealth status and stressed the importance of educating, particularly Republicans, on the subject.