Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-MD) recently announced his retirement, but he remains hopeful about eventual statehood for Puerto Rico.
The former House Majority Leader recently shared his thoughts on Puerto Rico status with El Nuevo Día. Hoyer convened negotiations that led to the creation of the Puerto Rico Status Act, a compromise bill that called for a binding referendum on Puerto Rico’s permanent political status. He brought the legislation to the floor of the House, where it passed in December of 2022. The bill then died as Congress adjourned. The proposal was reintroduced in both the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate when Congress reconvened in 2023 but never received a second vote.
Statehood “not impossible”
Though he doesn’t think it will happen soon, Hoyer explained in the interview with El Nuevo Dia, “It is not impossible to reach 60 votes.”
Hoyer has made strong statements in favor of Puerto Rico statehood and self-determination and against continued territory status over the years. In 2015, he said, “Puerto Ricans and people of Puerto Rican descent have had an important place in the American family for over a century. They contribute to American culture. They help protect America’s national security. They support the American economy and our shared prosperity. They are American citizens like you and me. For far too long, however, the people of Puerto Rico have been excluded from the full promise of American democracy and self-determination that our nation has always championed. Many of us have different opinions on which status is best for Puerto Rico. Personally, I’ve advocated for Puerto Rico’s statehood ever since I first visited the island in 1976.”
Hoyer has suggested that Puerto Rico’s difficulty in gaining statehood is caused by the Republican fear that Puerto Rico would vote for Democrats. “At some point,” he told El Nuevo Dia, “one would expect people to vote on principle, not just politics. That’s a big expectation.”
Why 60 votes?
According to tradition, George Washington told Thomas Jefferson that the Senate serves as the saucer that helps to cool the hot tea coming from the House. In order for this to make sense, we have to know that people in the 1700s would pour hot tea from a teacup into a saucer to cool it off a bit before drinking it. We no longer follow this custom, but the Senate is still slowing down the actions of Congress. The object is to prevent the majority from running roughshod over the interests of the minority. This is particularly relevant for sparsely populated states, which may have far fewer representatives in the House but always have the same two senators as larger states.
In the 1800s, the Dutch word “vrijbuiter” or “freebooter” referred to a pirate. This led to the Spanish “filibustero” and then the French “filibustier” before entering English as “filibuster.” In 1806, a rules change in the Senate meant that senators were no longer allowed to end debate with a simple majority (51 votes). By the 1830s, senators were filibustering — stealing the debate like pirates — by giving long, long speeches in order to delay votes.
The custom became more common over time, with speeches sometimes consisting of oral reading of a phone book or of picture books. The record for filibustering is currently held by Cory Booker (D-NJ), who spoke for 25 hours, 5 minutes in April of 2025.
In 1917, a rule was made allowing the Senate to end speeches and call a vote with a two-thirds majority. This was changed to three-fifths (60) in 1975. By now, it is customary to be sure of having 60 votes in favor of a bill before bringing it to the floor of the Senate, since a bill without 60 votes to end the filibuster can always end up in wasted time — or being too late to hold the vote at all — if a senator chooses to run the clock out with a lengthy speech.
Legally, Senate votes still only require a simple majority of 51 votes to pass, but it is considered pointless to try to pass a bill without 60 votes. The process of getting commitments for 60 votes provides opportunities for cooperation between Republicans and Democrats.
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