mr. pierluisi: i reserve the balance of my time. the chair: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the gentleman from washington state is recognized. mr. hastings: mr. speaker, i'm pleased to yield one minute to the gentleman from utah, and i understand, mr. chairman, that he gets a minute from the gentlelady from new york. the chair: the gentleman from utah is recognized. for one minute. mr. hastings: mr. chairman, i understand the gentlelady is going to yield him a minute so he's going to be recognized two minutes. ms. velazquez: mr. chairman, that's correct. the chair: the gentleman is recognized for two minutes. chafechafe the united states congress -- mr. chaffetz: the united states congress dictating to the people of puerto rico about this vote is ironic. there's no need for the united states congress to pass this bill. no need. four times, in 1952, in 1967, in 1993, in 1998, the people of puerto rico were able to vote on this. they didn't need the approve of the united states congress to do it. they don't need it toda

mr. pierluisi, in support of the rule and the bill. i know that mr. pierluisi, who was elected to represent puerto rico in the congress of the united states as their representative, has worked long and hard on this bill. as has so many of his predecessors. when i came to congress, carlos beserro was the representative of puerto rico and he was for this. that was 30 years ago, and we are still talking about this. the gentleman from puerto rico and mr. serrano make the points i want to make. now the gentleman who preceded me said that we're rushing this bill. this bill was reported out of committee last july, 30-8. this bill has 181 co-sponsors. broad bipartisan support in this congress. and so we have brought this bill to the floor for consideration. it offers amendments to those who are opposed to this bill. it offers amendments, frankly, that i think are extraneous to the basic premise of this bill as well. the fact of the matter is that america prides itself on being the beacon for democracy. what this bill does is celebrate democracy in puerto rico.

mr. pierluisi: i rise to claim time in opposition to the motion. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for five minutes. mr. pierluisi: the matters that are being raised in this motion are premature, are irrelevant, actually, because all that this bill, h.r. 2499 does is consult the people of puerto rico on the four available options that they have regarding our status, the current status, the territory, statehood, independence and free association. the people of puerto rico have not yet expressed by a majority that they want to join the union as a state. i hope that they -- that comes about and when it comes about, puerto rico will comply with the 2nd amendment the same way that all the other states must comply with the 2nd amendment. the same goes for the english language. it shouldn't be an issue now in puerto rico and will not be an issue at the time when it becomes a state. puerto rico now has two official languages, english and spanish. 90% of our parents want their children to be fluent in english. and so, we're proud of havin