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

Floor Speech

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Ms. PLASKETT. Madam Chair, I thank the gentlewoman for the time.

I was actually going to discuss some of the issues and specifics that were in the bill, this incredible bill that is so helpful, but I think the last comments caused me to have to take pause.

First of all, I don't know why we have to single out African Americans in South Carolina, as if they are in more need than anybody else for funding or for underfunding when they are more affected by disasters. But the reason that these things are happening in the territories is because of the underfunding of this body to the territories in ways that do not happen in States throughout this country.

There is no cap on Medicaid in South Carolina. There is no arbitrary amount of percentage that the Federal Government is paying as opposed to a local government is paying in South Carolina like there is in Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands where Congress arbitrarily said: We will only pay 55 percent. You pay 45 percent, based on a number that has nothing to do with your population or its demographics.

There is no cap on highways and us being removed from Federal formulas that the rest of the States have. So when we have a disaster, yes, we need more money because we have underfunding and our infrastructure is a lot more fragile than the rest of this country because this body hasn't done its job.

The gentleman talks about taxes. Why doesn't the Virgin Islands pay taxes in the same way? Because almost 100 years ago, when we asked this government to be treated in the same way as the others, this government said: You know what, we will let you keep your Federal taxes and then we won't have to give you the same amounts of money that we give the rest of the States, when, in fact, at that time, maybe 100 people met the criteria of income to pay Federal taxes.

So it is a sham and it is an okeydoke what this country did to the rest of us. And then everyone wants to hold us to the same standards and make sure that we are not supposed to get money the same way. It is just ridiculous.

I think this is an incredible bill. I think it is long overdue. This does not even put us on the same footing as the States in terms of what should happen, and I urge all of my colleagues to support it.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Ms. PLASKETT. Madam Chair, I rise in support of my amendment. This amendment would increase the Department of Energy technical assistance for electrical grid recovery in the U.S. territories by $3 million.

High energy costs have bedeviled the U.S. insular territories for many years, harming consumers, limiting development, and draining capital from our islands' economies. The average price of electricity paid by U.S. Virgin Islands residents in mid-2019 was about three times higher than the average power price in the mainland United States.

These islands have suffered at least one tropical cyclone, typhoon, or hurricane in the last 3 years, storms made stronger by warming oceans.

As a result of unprecedented recent disasters and the impact of enormous physical damage, the Virgin Islands are currently going through an energy crisis. Hurricanes Irma and Maria damaged approximately 80 to 90 percent of the electrical transmission and distribution systems in the territory. Rolling blackouts persist to this day.

Successfully incorporating resiliency measures into the electrical system recovery effort, including by building microgrid systems, and adding renewable generation capacity to the system does require significant technical assistance from the Department of Energy.

I am pleased that the House, through this bill, will be taking action to make appropriations for technical assistance with rebuilding electric systems in the insular areas. However, given the current state of the islands, including Puerto Rico, which has had the unique challenge of natural disasters reoccurring over the past several months, I am concerned that the amount of $15 million may not be enough to adequately address the urgent needs for assistance to improve grid resiliency and to lower the cost of electricity.

That is why I requested this modest uptick of $3 million. It is to see that utilities in the smaller territories like my district can get the technical assistance they need to solve energy problems that are unlike any other in the United States.

Madam Chair, I yield 1 minute to the distinguished gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Hoyer), who is the majority leader.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Ms. PLASKETT. Madam Chair, I yield 30 seconds to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Green).

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Ms. PLASKETT. Madam Chair, I urge adoption of this amendment. This is important to the territories.

As you heard from my colleague from Puerto Rico, islands are very fragile, and we do not have the scale that others have, nor do we have grids that can be attached to other areas. So this is really important to us, and the technical assistance of this Nation, from the Department of Energy, would go a long way in supporting a more resilient grid.

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

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source