Puerto Rico Gov. Ricardo Rosselló (D) swore in the seven members of its Puerto Rico Statehood Commission, the delegation that will go to Washington and ask to be seated in Congress as part of the island’s bid for statehood. The commission was sworn in at a ceremony Tuesday at La Fortaleza, the governor’s official residence in San Juan. Rosselló’s father, Pedro Rosselló Nevares (D), a former governor, was named the commission’s chairman. “We will request to be recognized and to be allowed participation in Congress,” Rosselló Nevares told The Hill. Based on the island’s population, Rosselló named five representatives and two senators. That’s the number of members in Congress that Puerto Rico would have if it were a state.
… The delegation was created under Puerto Rico’s statehood law, local legislation that empowers Rosselló to pursue what’s known as the Tennessee Plan.
Under that plan, territories of the United States, starting with Tennessee in 1796, have held local elections to demand accession as states. “Historically, that petition has never been recognized for the states that have used the Tennessee Plan,” said Rosselló Nevares.
Rosselló Nevares added that the group’s expectation is not for Congress to immediately allow accession, but to lobby the cause of statehood until it’s implemented.
Full Article: Puerto Rico swears in congressional delegation | TheHill.