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

Floor Speech

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Ms. DeLAURO. Madam Chair, I rise to speak in support of the supplemental bill for Puerto Rico.

The island has been rocked by earthquakes and tremors. Thousands of Americans are left without water or power, facing catastrophic property damage.

In my district, I met with affected families and community members. We discussed the ongoing disaster and the response and recovery needs.

I have staff, people who have family in Puerto Rico who are sleeping outdoors for fear of going back into a home that is badly damaged.

There should be no question about providing the resources necessary to recover. This supplemental package provides $4.67 billion for educational needs, transportation infrastructure repairs, and disaster relief activities, including $100 million for education.

For K-12 programs, it helps schools restart operations, support reenrollment, and pay for the costs of providing education to students who have been displaced by natural disasters, and yes, it addresses the mental health needs of children as they have experienced a traumatic event. Higher education, the funding helps defray the unexpected costs associated with enrolling displaced students and with rebuilding damaged facilities.

This supplemental also extends the child tax credit to all children in Puerto Rico and the U.S. territories. Under the current system, Puerto Rican families are only eligible for the child tax credit for the third or subsequent child. What we need to do is to expand and improve the child tax credit, make it fully refundable, but this is a necessary step in the meantime so that U.S. citizens in the territories are treated exactly like those in the States.

Let me just also assure my colleagues on a final note, that we are working with the administration to determine the costs of our ongoing response to the 2019 novel coronavirus. We have urged the administration to work with the Congress on a bipartisan basis to enact an emergency supplemental for that public health emergency. We stand ready to move forward quickly to protect public health and safety.

On this supplemental for Puerto Rico, let me urge my colleagues to vote ``yes,'' vote ``yes'' for Americans who are in dire straits on that island, and it is unconscionable that we would have second thoughts about the kind of support that they need during this crisis. Urge the Senate, urge the President to add their support swiftly. Our fellow Americans and Puerto Rico cannot afford for us to delay any longer.

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Ms. DeLAURO. Madam Chair, I rise in support of this amendment. It is $1 million that provides funds for a study on the impacts of natural disasters on the well-being and educational paths of affected students and children in Puerto Rico.

The children in Puerto Rico have been struggling from the trauma of multiple natural disasters. It has been resulting in unbelievable disruptions to their lives at home and at school.

After Hurricane Maria, Congresswoman Grace Meng from New York and I went to Puerto Rico. We visited the schools, and the teachers told us that the children were not coming to school. Why? We asked the question: Why?

They were scared that if they went to school and they returned home, they would not find their families, their home, or anything else that gave them their strength and the hope with their families, so they weren't going. They also couldn't go because the power was out, and the heat was too much for them to be there.

What is it that you can't understand? What is it that this administration doesn't understand about what is happening to children, American children, in Puerto Rico?

We included $3 million in the 2019 Labor-HHS appropriations bill to provide behavorial health services and counseling to children in Puerto Rico. These services are being provided through the National Child Traumatic Stress Network, which is a national network of grantees that provide services for children and adolescents exposed to traumatic events.

Schools are the center of our communities. They offer students stable schedules, warm meals, and support from teachers and school professionals. They are the center of learning. We need to act with urgency to support the school recovery and restore this stability for the children in Puerto Rico, but we must take a careful look at the long-term impacts of these disasters on student well-being and educational access and success.

Madam Chair, this amendment provides those resources. I support it, and I urge my colleagues to do the same.

Miss GONZALEZ-COLON of Puerto Rico. Madam Chair, may I inquire how much time is remaining.
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Ms. DeLAURO. Madam Chair, I look forward to the day when my colleague, Miss Gonzalez-Colon from Puerto Rico, can vote in this House of Representatives.

I also want to add one thing.

A colleague from South Carolina said earlier that folks in Puerto Rico do not pay taxes. They pay payroll taxes. We all understand payroll taxes; and, quite frankly, that is the basis on which the child tax credit is determined. So they are paying taxes.

Madam Chair, I rise in support of this amendment. I am honored to colead it with my colleague Jenniffer Gonzalez-Colon, with Congresswoman Nydia Velazquez, and Congressmen Serrano and Soto. It increases funding for Puerto Rico's Nutrition Assistance Program to $210 million.

The $40 million in the underlying bill provides a strong foundation on which to build; and, in light of a new analysis from leading nutrition experts which has shown how great the need is, the amendment increases the resources to what the experts are now calling for.

Thousands have been left without food, water, or power. We cannot turn our backs on the people of Puerto Rico. We need to meet basic needs so that they can rebuild. It is not only a responsibility, but it is a moral responsibility.

And why is this necessary? Because Puerto Rico receives a block grant for nutrition assistance. It is known as the Nutrition Assistance Program, or NAP. Because the value of the block grant is fixed, their nutrition assistance is unable to meet the heightened needs of children and families in times of disaster. It is fundamentally different from how food stamps work for the millions of other Americans elsewhere in our country.

But we know where this administration falls on the food stamp program. They are willing to deny 3 million people access to food stamps, take 2 million kids off of the School Lunch Program.

Folks here are in need, but the people in Puerto Rico, the children in Puerto Rico are in need. An island ravished by earthquakes and tremors--Wednesday saw a 5.0 magnitude earthquake.

In her request to the Congress, Puerto Rico's Governor warned: ``Puerto Ricans are currently suffering economic and job loss, displacement and interruption of essential services, and thousands of refugees currently located in camps are children and the elderly.''

We offer a bipartisan amendment today to build on the underlying bill. I commend the committee chair, Congresswoman Lowey, and the subcommittee chair, Congressman Bishop, for their hard work on this fast-moving matter.

To my colleagues: Have a sense of what food means to people. We live in a land of plenty. We should not be about the business of denying food and nutrition help to others, and especially American children and American families from Puerto Rico, the nutrition assistance, the food that they need in order to survive.

Madam Chair, no one should go to bed hungry in this country or in those countries where we have American citizens, and that is Puerto Rico.

Madam Chair, I urge my colleagues, please--please--deal with what our moral responsibility is in this body. We have the power to make this happen. Let's make it happen today.

Madam Chair, I yield back the balance of my time.

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