Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez was told to provide a translation after speaking Spanish in support of statehood for Puerto Rico.
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Puerto Rico, acquired by the United States from Spain in 1898 after the Spanish-American War, is a commonwealth, or self-governing state, subject to the authority of Congress. Residents can vote in presidential primaries but not the general election. The island has a nonvoting member of Congress but no voting representatives or senators, as states have.
Puerto Rico has given its residents the opportunity to express their opinion on the island’s governmental status, holding various nonbinding votes on its relationship to the United States. In a 2020 ballot measure that asked a single question about statehood, 52.3% of voters said they favored Puerto Rico becoming a state. In three earlier nonbinding plebiscites between 1967 and 1998, a majority of Puerto Rican voters favored remaining as a commonwealth. Other residents favored outright independence.
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