The American flag may soon change

[Spider-Dan]

All three of those suggestions (PR, DC, split CA) would result in more Democratic Senators.

You might be able to pull off something like add PR+DC and split Texas into 3 states, but good luck getting Texas to do anything.

[Landshark]

All three of those suggestions (PR, DC, split CA) would result in more Democratic Senators.

You might be able to pull off something like add PR+DC and split Texas into 3 states, but good luck getting Texas to do anything.

Would Puerto Rico really add more Democratic senators?  From my experience (limited as it is) with the Hispanic population, the majority of them tend to side with the Republicans.

[Dave Gray]

Would Puerto Rico really add more Democratic senators?  From my experience (limited as it is) with the Hispanic population, the majority of them tend to side with the Republicans.

No...not at all.  Hispanics overall break incredibly to the Democrats.  Only Cubans break Republican.  But especially Mexicans and Puerto Ricans break Democrat.

[Landshark]

No...not at all.  Hispanics overall break incredibly to the Democrats.  Only Cubans break Republican.  But especially Mexicans and Puerto Ricans break Democrat.

That explains it then.  Most of my Hispanic friends are of Cuban heritage.

[Spider-Dan]

Obama won Latinos 71-27.

[Landshark]

If they go Democrat or Independent, then they the GOP would not be able to fillibuster anymore. That would be a huge, huge, huge development and shift of power.

I thought you needed a minimum of 60% majority to block the filibuster. 

[bsmooth]

I thought you needed a minimum of 60% majority to block the filibuster. 

They would be very close. Only need a couple GOP defectors to hit 60. The GOP does not want the Dems anywhere closer to 60.

[Brian Fein]

Why on earth would you want to split California into 2 states?

And, why does Washington DC get electoral college votes and Puerto Rico does not?

[CF DolFan]

Why on earth would you want to split California into 2 states?

And, why does Washington DC get electoral college votes and Puerto Rico does not?

I'm not saying to split Cali but it does make sense.  California is the largest state by population and almost twice as large as Florida which is 4th on the list. They have 53 seats in the House which is more than twice Florida's 25.

In many youth sports leagues in California, Texas, NY and Pennsylvania are split in two. There is a push to do the same for Florida as it is over 10 hours from Pensacola to Miami and over 13 hours From Pensacola to Key West.  That's a lot of ground to cover.

Politics aside ... I've thought more about the PR thing and actually I don't think it is a bad idea that we don't take them in. I mean the poverty rate of PR is over 40% and they come with debt. The unemployment rate is very high as well as welfare programs. I don't think we are in a stable enough economy to be responsible for that kind of debt right now. It just doesn't make sense to become repsonsible for people in worse shape than us when we aren't taking care of our own.

Puerto Rico’s poverty rate was pegged at 45.6 percent in 2011, up slightly from the 45 percent mark in 2010, according to the Census Bureau data released Thursday.

The Census numbers show that nearly 1.673 million island residents were living below the federal poverty line last year, up from roughly 1.659 million in 2010.

The poverty rate in Puerto Rico remained far ahead of the poorest state, Mississippi, where 22.6 percent of the population was below the poverty line in 2011.

The current federal poverty line for a family of four with two minor children is $22,881 per year.

The median household income in Puerto Rico fell to $18,660 last year, dropping from $19,370 in 2010, the new Census data shows.

Puerto Rico also posted the highest income inequality index in the Census survey, barely edging out Washington, D.C.

The percentage of Puerto Ricans on food stamps inched up from 36.7 percent in 2010 to 37.5 percent in 2011.