(2) FEDERAL LAWS.—The Federal laws applica-
ble to the election of the Resident Commissioner of
Puerto Rico shall, as appropriate and consistent with
this Act, also apply to the referenda. Any reference in
such Federal laws to elections shall be considered, as
appropriate, to be a reference to the referenda, unless
it would frustrate the purposes of this Act.
(b) CERTIFICATION OF REFERENDA RESULTS.—The
results of each referendum held under this Act shall be cer-
tified to the President of the United States and the Senate
and House of Representatives of the United States by the
Government of Puerto Rico.
(c) CONSULTATION AND RECOMMENDATIONS FOR IN-
CONCLUSIVE REFERENDUM.—
(1) IN GENERAL.—If a referendum provided in
this Act does not result in approval of a fully self-gov-
erning status, the President, in consultation with offi-
cials of the three branches of the Government of Puer-
to Rico, the principal political parties of Puerto Rico,
and other interested persons as may be appropriate,
shall make recommendations to the Congress within
180 days of receipt of the results of the referendum.
(2) EXISTING
STRUCTURE
TO
REMAIN
IN
EF-
FECT.—If the inhabitants of the territory do not
achieve full self-governance through either integration
into the Union or separate sovereignty in the form of
independence or free association, Puerto Rico will re-
main an unincorporated territory of the United
States, subject to the authority of Congress under Ar-
ticle IV, Section 3, Clause 2 of the United States Con-
stitution. In that event, the existing Commonwealth of
Puerto Rico structure for local self-government will
remain in effect, subject to such other measures as
may be adopted by Congress in the exercise of it’s
Territorial Clause powers to determine the disposition
of the territory and status of it’s inhabitants.
(3) AUTHORITY
OF
CONGRESS
TO
DETERMINE
STATUS.—Since current unincorporated territory sta-
tus of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico is not a per-
manent, unalterable or guaranteed status under the
Constitution of the United States, Congress retains
plenary authority and responsibility to determine a
permanent status for Puerto Rico consistent with the
national interest. The Congress historically has recog-
nized a commitment to take into consideration the
freely expressed wishes of the people of Puerto Rico re-
garding their future political status. This policy is
consistent with respect for the right of self-determina-
tion in areas which are not fully self-governing, but
does not constitute a legal restriction or binding limi-
tation on the Territorial Clause powers of Congress to
determine a permanent status of Puerto Rico. Nor
does any such restriction or limitation arise from the
Puerto Rico Federal Relations Act (48 U.S.C. 731 et
seq.).
(4) ADDITIONAL
REFERENDA.—To ensure that
the Congress is able on a continuing basis to exercise
its Territorial Clause powers with due regard for the
wishes of the people of Puerto Rico respecting resolu-
tion of Puerto Rico’s permanent future political sta-
tus, in the event that a referendum conducted under
section four is inconclusive as provided in this sub-
section, or a majority vote to continue the Common-
wealth structure as a territory, there shall be another
referendum in accordance with this Act prior to the
expiration of a period of four years from the date
such inconclusive results are certified or determined.
This procedure shall be repeated every four years, but
not in a general election year, until Puerto Rico’s un-
incorporated territory status is terminated in favor of
a recognized form of full self-government in accord-
ance with this Act.
SEC. 6. CONGRESSIONAL PROCEDURES FOR CONSIDER-
ATION OF LEGISLATION.
(a) IN GENERAL.—The Chairman of the Committee on
Energy and Natural Resources shall introduce legislation
providing for the transition plan under section 4(b) and
the implementation recommendation under section 4(c), as
appropriate, in the United States Senate and the Chairman
of the Committee on Resources shall introduce such legisla-
tion in the United States House of Representatives, provid-
ing adequate time for the consideration of the legislation
pursuant to the following provisions:
(1) At any time after the close of the 180th cal-
endar day beginning after the date of introduction of
such legislation, it shall be in order for any Member
of the United States House of Representatives or the
United States Senate to move to discharge any com-
mittee of that House from further consideration of the
legislation. A motion to discharge shall be highly
privileged, and debate thereon shall be limited to not
more than two hours, to be divided equally between
those supporting and those opposing the motion. An
amendment to the motion shall not be in order, and
it shall not be in order to move to reconsider the vote
by which the motion was agreed to or disagreed to.
(2) At any time after the close of the 14th legis-
lative day beginning after the last committee of that
House has reported or been discharged from further
consideration of such legislation, it shall be in order
for any Member of that House to move to proceed to
the immediate consideration of the legislation (such
motion not being debatable), and such motion is here-
by made of high privilege. An amendment to the mo-
tion shall not be in order, and it shall not be in order
to move to reconsider the vote by which the motion
was agreed to or disagreed to. For the purposes of this
paragraph, the term ‘‘legislative day’’ means a day
on which the United States House of Representatives
or the United States Senate, as appropriate, is in ses-
sion.
(b) COMMITMENT OF CONGRESS.—Enactment of this
section constitutes a commitment that the United States
Congress will vote on legislation establishing appropriate
mechanisms and procedures to implement the political sta-
tus selected by the people of Puerto Rico.
(c) EXERCISE OF RULEMAKING POWER.—The provi-
sions of this section are enacted by the Congress—
(1) as an exercise of the rulemaking power of the
Senate and the House of Representatives and, as such,
shall be considered as part of the rules of each House
and shall supersede other rules only to the extent that
they are inconsistent therewith; and
(2) with full recognition of the constitutional
right of either House to change the rules (so far as
they relate to the procedures of that House) at any
time, in the same manner, and to the same extent as
in the case of any other rule of that House.
SEC. 7. AVAILABILITY OF FUNDS FOR THE REFERENDA.
(a) IN GENERAL.—
(1) AVAILABILITY OF AMOUNTS DERIVED FROM
TAX ON FOREIGN RUM.—During the period beginning
on October 1, 1996, and ending on the date the Presi-
dent determines that all referenda required by this
Act have been held, from the amounts covered into the
treasury of Puerto Rico under section 7652(e)(1) of
the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, the Secretary of
the Treasury—
(A) upon request and in the amounts iden-
tified from time to time by the President, shall
make the amounts so identified available to the
treasury of Puerto Rico for the purposes specified
in subsection (b); and
(B) shall transfer all remaining amounts to
the treasury of Puerto Rico, as under current
law.
(2) REPORT OF REFERENDA EXPENDITURES.—
Within 180 days after each referendum required by
this Act, and after the end of the period specified in
paragraph (1), the President, in consultation with the
Government of Puerto Rico, shall submit a report to
the United States Senate and United States House of
Representatives on the amounts made available under
paragraph (1)(A) and all other amounts expended by
the State Elections Commission of Puerto Rico for
referenda pursuant to this Act.
(b) GRANTS
FOR
CONDUCTING
REFERENDA
AND
VOTER EDUCATION.—From amounts made available under
subsection (a)(1), the Government of Puerto Rico shall make
grants to the State Elections Commission of Puerto Rico
for referenda held pursuant to the terms of this Act, as fol-
lows:
(1) 50 percent shall be available only for costs of
conducting the referenda.
(2) 50 percent shall be available only for voter
education funds for the central ruling body of the po-
litical party, parties, or other qualifying entities ad-
vocating a particular ballot choice. The amount allo-
cated for advocating a ballot choice under this para-
graph shall be apportioned equally among the parties
advocating that choice.
(c) 
ADDITIONAL
RESOURCES.—In 
addition 
to
amounts made available by this Act, the Puerto Rico Legis-
lature may allocate additional resources for administrative
and voter education costs to each party so long as the dis-
tribution of funds is consistent with the apportionment re-
quirements of subsection (b).