[1] The latest report by the Task Force on Puerto Rico’s Status, whose members were appointed by President Barack Obama, was issued on March 16, 2011.
[3] On November 30, 1992, President George H. W. Bush issued a memorandum to heads of executive departments and agencies establishing the current administrative relationship between the Federal Government and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.
[5] On December 23, 2000, Clinton issued Executive Order 13183, which established the President’s Task Force on Puerto Rico’s Status and the rules for its membership.
[10] Both reports recognized that Puerto Rico does not have a status of a permanent nature, and despite being granted wide autonomy over local issues, that it continues to be a territory of the United States subject to Congress’s plenary powers.
For example, the report said that the powers conferred upon Congress under the Territorial Clause of the U.S. Constitution are so expansive that the federal government could cede Puerto Rico to another nation.
To this end, the 2005 Task Force Report recommended a two-stage referendum to determine whether the Puerto Rican people wish to retain the status quo, and if not, which of the two available options they prefer.
The Task Force acknowledges the pending legislative measures that would provide similar or alternative procedures through which the people of Puerto Rico might express their will regarding the future status of the Island.