Nate Report: Statehood For Puerto Rico On The Table (HR 2499) April 28, 2010

This is a developing story that has not hit the main stream media yet. There may be a vote in the house as early as this week. If passed into law the end result could have three outcomes.
1) Independence for Puerto Rico as a sovereign nation.
2) Associated sovereignty.
3) Statehood.
It is unclear what associated sovereignty actually means. If Puerto Rico became a state it would gain 2 seats in the US Senate and 6 or 7 Congressmen in the House that would be redistributed to Puerto Rico from current states who would loose some of their seats due to the cap on congressional seats. It would be the first Spanish speaking state in the union making the US an officially bilingual nation. If this bill passes the people of Puerto Rico would vote for their future. Previously they have voted against becoming a state 4 times in the past. Should Puerto Rico become a state? How would this change the political climate in our country? What are the long term results?