Emergency Supplemental Appropriations for Disaster Relief and Puerto Rico Disaster Tax Relief Act, 2020

Floor Speech

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Mr. HOYER. Madam Chair, I thank the gentlewoman from the Virgin Islands (Ms. Plaskett) for yielding. I lament that, as Miss Gonzalez- Colon pointed out, she will not be able to vote on the final passage of this bill.

I lament that Puerto Rico is not a State. If it were a State or if the Virgin Islands were a State, they would have already been addressed and helped, consistent with what we have done for States.

Madam Chair, history will remember this generation of Puerto Ricans for their perseverance, their courage, and their strength. Having endured two devastating hurricanes in 2017, they have had to cope with their heartbreaking aftermath, characterized by the Trump administration's failure to allocate resources properly, fairly, effectively, and timely.

Now a series of powerful earthquakes have struck the island, causing additional damage and, sadly, loss of life. We have heard reports that, while much of the power transmission infrastructure that was rebuilt stronger after the hurricanes were able to hold up, the aging power plants they serve sustained substantial damage.

Madam Chair, I will remind my colleagues that the people of Puerto Rico are our fellow American citizens. They are our brothers and our sisters, our fellow Americans. Their well-being is our concern. Their capacity to rebuild, and rebuild stronger, is our responsibility as the representatives of the American people--of all the American people. That is what we do after natural disasters: We help our fellow Americans in need.

Madam Chair, I and several of my colleagues will be traveling to Puerto Rico over the President's Day district work period next weekend. We will be visiting communities in the south of the island that have been hardest hit by the earthquakes. Many of the same communities are still trying to rebuild from Irma and Maria.

I was there in 2017, in Puerto Rico, and in the Virgin Islands with Representative Plaskett. I was there with the Republican leader, Mr. McCarthy. We visited with families who lost their homes, who lost loved ones, and who asked us to come back here to Washington and help.

We worked together, Republicans and Democrats, to pass emergency funding and partnered on an effort to amend the Stafford Act to promote resilience by ensuring that structures are built to 21st century standards.

Madam Chair, when I return to the island later this month, I want to tell the people I meet that Congress has not and will not forget them, that their brothers and sisters on the mainland are with them. I want to tell them that we took action to provide the additional funding the island needs to recover from this most recent disaster.

I want to tell them that the Congress came together to approve the necessary funds to help communities on the island restore critical infrastructure and rebuild schools and housing. I want to tell them that we came through with assistance for repairing the energy grid and making it more resilient.

I also want to be able to share with them that Congress made key tax reforms to give low-income Puerto Ricans some help with childcare and affordable housing as they rebuild, as we do for people here on the mainland.

Madam Chair, that is why I am asking my colleagues to join me in passing this bill and making all of those things possible. When I go down to Puerto Rico in just over a week, I want to be able to tell the people there that this House did its job.

Sadly, we have seen the administration's veto threat, which was little more than a denigration of our fellow Americans, accusing Puerto Ricans of corruption and being untrustworthy of receiving emergency aid. Ironic that his administration would make such a charge. Shame on them for making that allegation, and shame on them even more if they veto disaster aid to Puerto Rico under such a spurious and hateful belief.

House Democrats will continue to conduct oversight in order to ensure that the administration does not continue to withhold critical, congressionally appropriated disaster aid from the people of Puerto Rico who need it to rebuild. The stronger they are, the stronger our Nation will be.

Madam Chair, I want to thank the chairwoman of the Appropriations Committee, Mrs. Lowey, as well as the chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, Mr. Neal, along with members of their committees for their hard work on this package.

Madam Chair, I want to thank Representatives Velazquez, Serrano, Soto, Ocasio-Cortez, and, yes, Miss Gonzalez-Colon, as well, for advocating for Puerto Ricans in Congress.

Madam Chair, I urge my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to vote ``yes'' on this package. Keep faith with our fellow citizens wherever they might live, in the East, in the West, in the South, or in Puerto Rico, all Americans worthy of having confidence that we will stand with them in hours of distress.

Vote ``yes.''

Miss GONZALEZ-COLON of Puerto Rico. I would like to claim the time in opposition, and although I am claiming the time in opposition, I am in favor of the amendment presented by Ms. Plaskett.

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