White House Statement on Proposed Legislation on the Relationship Between the United States and Puerto Rico.

QUESTIONS have been raised in the Puerto Rican press about the administration's position on the legislation proposed to establish a procedure for dealing with the relationship between the United States and Puerto Rico. The administration strongly supports such a procedure and reiterates its commitment to the concept of self-determination as expressed in the exchange of correspondence between the President and Governor Munoz of last July.

With regard to the question of the permanence of the proposed perfected Commonwealth, should it be enacted by the Congress and approved by the people of Puerto Rico, the administration's view, also expressed by Governor Munoz in his testimony, is that any such arrangement would continue in effect unless and until it were amended by mutual consent.

The modifications proposed in the Budget Bureau testimony before the committee to the proposal introduced by Chairman Wayne Aspinall of the House Interior Committee do not alter the fundamental concepts of the bill. They are changes which Governor Munoz indicated in his testimony before the committee were reasonable and consistent with the principles underlying the proposal. It is the administration's hope that the suggested modifications will be made readily and that the bill will be promptly and favorably considered by the Congress.