All but 16 House Republicans vote against bill to allow Puerto Rico to decide its future

• The House passed a bill to allow Puerto Rico voters to choose independence, statehood, or free association.
• Only 16 Republicans joined all Democrats in supporting the bill.
• Republicans opposed the bill in part due to long-standing opposition to Puerto Rico's statehood.

The House of Representatives voted by a 233-191 margin on Thursday to pass the Puerto Rico Status Act, with all but 16 House Republicans voting against the measure. Every House Democrat voted for the bill.

Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, who worked on the bill and is of Puerto Rican descent, presided over the vote.

—bryan metzger (@metzgov) December 15, 2022

 

The bill would give voters in Puerto Rico the opportunity to vote in a plebiscite next November, allowing them to choose between statehood, independence, or to enter into a compact of free association with the United States.

Lawmakers had long been working on the bill, and its addition to the calendar this week was unexpected. A handful of Republicans had co-sponsored the legislation, including Reps. Maria Elvira Salazar of Florida and Don Bacon of Nebraska. 

It also had the support of the territory's Republican Resident Commissioner Jenniffer González-Colón who serves as a non-voting representative for the island in Congress.

Despite House passage, the bill is unlikely to pass the Senate, where it would need at least 10 Republican supporters.

House Republicans on Thursday cited a number of reasons for opposing the bill, including a lack of debate and the possibility that it would lead to statehood, which they've long opposed.

—Tim Burchett (@timburchett) December 15, 2022

"At this point in time I'm not, you know, interested in going down that road," Republican Rep. Chip Roy of Texas told Insider. "We didn't have a debate about it, I haven't been a part of any of the debates on this. They're trying to jam this through right before Christmas."

Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia told Insider that she didn't think the bill was "the right way to go about something like that."

"I'm just not interested in Puerto Rico being a state," she said, adding that she didn't believe people living in Puerto Rico should get to vote on that.

Here are the 16 Republicans who voted for the bill:

• Rep. Don Bacon of Nebraska
• Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming
• Rep. Rodney Davis of Illinois
• Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania
• Rep. Mayra Flores of Texas
• Rep. Andrew Garbarino of New York
• Rep. Tony Gonzalez of Ohio
• Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler of Washington
• Rep. Bill Huizenga of Michigan
• Rep. Dave Joyce of Ohio
• Rep. John Katko of New York
• Rep. Dan Newhouse of Washington
• Rep. Bill Posey of Florida
• Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar of New York
• Rep. Lloyd Smucker of Pennsylvania
• Rep. Fred Upton of Michigan