Opinion articles provide independent perspectives on key community issues, separate from our newsroom reporting.

Letters to the Editor

Olsen letter: Puerto Rico statehood

Time magazine, Feb. 27-March 6 issue, page 18, reports Puerto Rico will hold a non-binding referendum June 11 to “choose between statehood (and the federal funds that come with it) and independence.”

Can Puerto Rico decide to become a state in the U.S. without congressional/U.S. presidential approval? Please ask for coverage of this subject soon. We all need to know more about this. (Time, a couple years ago, reported about one-third of Puerto Rico’s population had come to the U.S. because of that territory’s lousy financial situation and the immigration had caused troubles in the North Florida region.

Please see that the Statesman gets us up-to-date on this subject, including its impact on the U.S. budget and on future Social Security outlays to pensioners.

Evelyn F. Olsen, Wilder

This story was originally published March 16, 2017 at 2:31 AM with the headline "Olsen letter: Puerto Rico statehood."

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