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Rosselló Nevares said he was able to feel that position after holding a meeting with the team of Republican Bruce Westerman, chairman of the House Committee on Natural Resources.

“We cannot avoid the reality that there is some resistance that has to be broken down. The justification is not adequate,” the former governor said, alluding to Republican concerns about the alleged lack of time to hold public hearings on the measure. “I urge, and we have discussed it with the extended Republican delegation, that we will share that point in particular with the resident commissioner so that she addresses it.”

“[They say] that there are important issues in Congress and that we have to schedule …” he added.

Rosselló Nevares said the members of the Extended Congressional Delegation for Puerto Rico have held 127 meetings to advance the cause.

Pierluisi, who has insisted that Resident Commissioner Jenniffer González Colón will extend her lobbying for HR 2757 to Democrats, said he believed that she had excused herself from the press conference. Rosselló Nevares, meanwhile, acknowledged that there is still resistance from Republicans to endorse HR 2757, a bill very similar to another approved at the end of the previous Congress, but only in the House of Representatives.

During the press conference, Rosselló Nevares thanked Pierluisi “for his leadership” and for allowing all supporters of statehood to move in the same direction.

“With his effort and leadership, the Democratic caucus was tied up on one occasion and this occasion as well,” he said.

Pierluisi, meanwhile, reiterated that the vast majority of Puerto Ricans oppose the commonwealth status and stressed the importance of educating, particularly Republicans, on the subject.