Mint to Give Puerto Rico a Quarter
Congressman Pushes for U.S. Mint to Produce Quarters for Territories
Puerto Rico will soon get its own peseta or quarter, now that Congress has approved a bill extending the U.S. Mint's popular state quarter program.
Puerto Rico will get its own peseta or quarter, now that Congress has approved a bill extending the U.S. Mint's popular state quarter program to include Puerto Rico, a U.S. Commonwealth.
"When I first heard about the 'state quarters' program, I urged that Puerto Rico be included in the program," Congressman Jose Serrano wrote in a recent "Serrano Report." "However, it was not included leaving out millions of our fellow American citizens."
After nearly 10 years of lobbying, the bill will also extend the U.S. Mint's state quarter program to include the nation's capital as well as four other territories. Among the many provisions in a federal spending bill passed in late December by Congress is the one that requires the United States Mint to produce the six new designs.
In addition to Puerto Rico, the five other places that will be honored with their very own quarter are the nation's capital Washington, D.C. as well as the Virgin Islands, American Samoa, Guam and the Northern Marianas.
Serrano, who is chairman of the subcommittee that oversees the Treasury Department's funding, said he's pleased he was "finally able" to include language in this year's spending bill to direct the Mint to issue quarters for Puerto Rico, the other territories and the District of Columbia in 2009.
Serrano, a Democrat who represents the South Bronx, was especially pleased to have Puerto Rico included.
"More than four million American citizens live in Puerto Rico, but too often it is 'out of sight, out of mind,' " wrote Serrano who is of Puerto Rican heritage. "That's not right. Instead we should be honoring Puerto Rico for its many contributions to the United States. Our nation would not be what it is today without Puerto Ricans giving so much in areas like the arts, national defense, music, politics, science, and sports."
According to the Mint, nearly half of all Americans collect the state quarters. Procedures for selecting subjects for the new quarters, and their design, would be posted online once President Bush signed the bill. The District of Columbia coin is expected to be the first to appear in 2009.
Coin collector Francisco Gonzalez, a Puerto Rican and longtime South Bronx resident, said he remembers reading a news report about a possible Puerto Rican quarter at one point.
He welcomes a quarter of his beloved Puerto Rico to his growing collection. He said he has more than 40 state quarters so far.
"Puerto Rico deserves to have its own quarter," Gonzalez said, citing its relationship with the United States and the contributions that Puerto Ricans have made to this country.
Gonzalez, who most recently received a quarter from Utah in the mail, said he enjoys collecting quarters because it is an educational experience.
"I learn something historic of each state," said Gonzalez, a food service worker at a Bronx hospital. "I learn about a landmark, an animal, a landscape. Each state has something symbolic."
Gonzalez is looking forward to his Puerto Rico quarter as "a collector and a boricua."
"I think people will learn more about Puerto Rico because of the quarter," he said.
