106th Anniversary of Puerto Rico's U.S. Citizenship

Floor Speech

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Mrs. GONZALEZ-COLON. Madam Speaker, today I rise to celebrate the 106th anniversary of the people of Puerto Rico being granted their U.S. citizenship.

Puerto Rico became a U.S. territory in 1898. In 1906, President Roosevelt called on Congress to confer U.S. citizenship to Puerto Ricans. On March 2, 1917, the Jones Act was signed into law.

We are proud American citizens, and we are proud of the contributions we have made to this great Nation. More than 235,000 Puerto Rican servicemembers have served and have fought in every military conflict that our Nation has had since World War I.

However, although we are U.S. citizens, the Federal Government often treats us unequally. I live on the island, and I can tell you that we no longer want to be treated differently.

We want the same rights and responsibilities as our fellow citizens in the States, which can only be achieved with statehood.

Like Congress acted 106 years ago to grant us our cherished American citizenship, Congress has an obligation to act again and make us a permanent part of the Union as the 51st State.

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