Introduction of the Community Driven Recovery for Puerto Rico Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. GARCIA of Illinois. Madam Speaker, I rise today to introduce the Community Driven Recovery for Puerto Rico Act along with my colleague from New York, Adriano Espaillat. This bill strengthens transparency and local oversight of federal recovery efforts in Puerto Rico by establishing a Civil Society Task Force to ensure that Puerto Ricans have a seat at the table in decisions about recovery efforts.

More than three years since Hurricane Maria hit Puerto Rico, the island is still devastated and Puerto Rican voices have been shut out of the federal recovery process. The Civil Society Task Force established by this bill will represent different sectors of Puerto Rican society including community organizations, unions, nonprofits and small businesses. The Task Force will be embedded within federal recovery agencies to ensure that the Puerto Rican community's ideas and concerns are incorporated into the recovery process.

The federal recovery effort in Puerto Rico has been removed from the people of the island for too long, and this bill provides an important mechanism to bridge that gap and enhance the accountability, transparency and credibility of the process. I urge this body to advance this bill.

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