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“The citizens of Puerto Rico already possess the ability to express their territory’s political status and no action from the United States Congress is needed. While I favor Puerto Rico reaching a conclusion of its territorial status that has been clouded for over 100 years, it has become clear that this legislation could become the first step in the long process of achieving statehood and therefore I voted against it.”

I applaud Citizens Against Government Waste for shining a bright light on this egregious abuse of spending taxpayer money by members on both sides of the aisle. I urge every American to read their report. Two years ago I took a stand against this broken and corrupt process by refusing to request earmarks until the system is 100% transparent as to the sponsor and recipient and until each earmark is subject to an up or down vote on the House floor. I am proud that my House Republican colleagues recently joined my stand for reform.