Jeb Bush Supports Puerto Rican Statehood On ‘Latino Tour’ [VIDEO]

Former Florida Governor and likely Presidential candidate Jeb Bush reiterated his support for Puerto Rican statehood on Tuesday. Bush is attending a number of speaking engagements this week that bring him closer to Latino voters, a constituency that could give him an edge against Republican rivals in the looming Presidential primary. At the Metropolitan University of Puerto Rico in San Juan, Bush told told a crowd that the next president should support an up-or-down vote for statehood.

“I think statehood is the best path, and I’ve believed that for a long, long while” he said. “To get the full benefits and responsibilities of citizenship, being a state is the only way to make that happen [....] This should be a question of self-determination. [It’s] just a question of principle and morality, I think. It's not a question of politics."

In February of 2014, Senator Martin Heinrich (D-New Mexico) introduced H.R. 2000, a bill supporting self-determination. It’s currently stuck in committee, a congressional purgatory that won’t bring it to the floor without some serious pushing. If passed, it would require Puerto Rican voters to answer the question “Do you want Puerto Rico to be admitted as a State of the United States? Yes _____ No ______." If a simple majority voted “yes,” Puerto Rico would become a state, giving the island’s residents rights that they don’t currently have. Those include what Bush called the “full benefits” of citizenship -- voting representation in congress -- as well as “responsibilities” -- paying federal income tax.

Bush argued that the next President should “use their influence” to lean on Congress to pass H.R. 2000. President Barack Obama has already approved a Congressional bill to fund the proposed plebiscite, and key Democrats like Vice President Joe Biden and Sen. Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nevada) have expressed support for the bill in the past.

Does Bush think that he should be that next President?

“I’m on the journey of considering that, trying to figure out if I have the support necessary to do it. Today’s not the day to trigger a campaign but I appreciate the sentiment,” he told an interviewer during his talk in San Juan.

That’s a far cry from his first visit to Puerto Rico, when stumped for his father’s presidential campaign in 1980.

“It’s not something that I would like to do the rest of my life, no. I get nervous at first. It’s just, I’m not a politician,” he told NBC News in February 1980.

On Tuesday, he reflected on that time, saying it was in fact the beginning of his political career, among other things.

"I learned how to organize intensely here," he said. "I learned the passion. I learned how to drink a lot of Puerto Rican rum."