Letter to Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the House, and Kevin McCarthy, Minority Leader of the House - Soto Asks House Leadership To Include Puerto Rico Disaster Relief in Next Coronavirus Package
Letter
Dear Speaker Pelosi and Minority Leader McCarthy:
As you work to develop the next legislative package to address the COVID-19 crisis, we write
today to urge you to include H.R. 5687, the Emergency Supplemental Appropriations for
Disaster Relief and Puerto Rico Disaster Tax Relief Act of 2020, which the House of
Representatives passed on February 7.
In response to the worst earthquake Puerto Rico experienced in a century, this legislation
provided $4.89 billion in emergency spending to fund a broad range of disaster recovery
activities, including educational needs, repairs to transportation infrastructure, community
development, energy needs, and nutrition assistance. As you know, the Senate has yet to act on
this critical legislation, and our fellow Americans in Puerto Rico are struggling with the COVID19 crisis while they recover from the devastating earthquakes, as well as the destruction caused
by Hurricanes Irma and Maria in 2017.
As Puerto Rico Governor Wanda Vázquez Garced wrote to you on April 8, additional federal
resources are needed to meet the infrastructure, physical health, and mental health needs of U.S.
citizens throughout Puerto Rico. H.R. 5687 allows for comingling of funds provided in that
legislation and previous emergency supplementals. As such, the legislation would allow Puerto
Rico to use these funds for recovery efforts related to several crises, including the coronavirus
pandemic. Including this legislation in the next coronavirus aid package would be a significant
step in the right direction toward providing critical aid to our fellow Americans in Puerto Rico.
Thank you for your consideration and we look forward to working with you to provide for the
immediate, increased needs in Puerto Rico.
Sincerely,
Reps. Darren Soto (FL-09), Tony Cárdenas (CA-29), Joaquin Castro (TX-20), Adriano Espaillat (NY-13), Ruben Gallego (AZ-07), Jesús G. "Chuy" Garcia (IL-04), Jimmy Gomez (CA-34), Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (NY-14), Mark Pocan (WI-02), José E. Serrano (NY-15) and Albio Sires (NJ-08)
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