Nydia Velázquez

The Restaurant Revitalization Fund was finally enacted as part of the American Rescue Plan and it provided $28.6 billion for restaurants, bars, and caterers.

I introduced the RESTAURANTS Act in June 2020 and worked with both Republican and Democratic colleagues to build a coalition of support for the $120 billion Restaurant Revitalization Fund contained in the legislation.

If we continue to leave out those that support the live entertainment industry such as audiovisual rentals, specialty entertainment services, wedding operators and more, we will neglect a critical component of the hospitality sector.

We should honor our commitment to these small businesses and look to pass my colleague, Congressman Blumenauer's Restaurant Revitalization Fund Replenishment Act of which I am a co-sponsor.

The Puerto Rico Self-Determination Act of 2021 authored by Congresswomen Nydia Velazquez and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez...

The only legislative option that respects the will of the people of Puerto Rico, and ensures a binding process of self-determination is H.R. 1522, the Puerto Rico Statehood Admission Act.

It is up to us, to Congress, without thoroughly, precisely vested by the Constitution, to decide what type of mechanism for decolonization we should pursue.

Could you imagine the framers in 1787 saying let's keep the Articles of Confederation and not convene the convention because Washington might all of a sudden become a dictator?

H.R. 2070...is fundamentally based on a rejection of the voice of the people of Puerto Rico...

H.R. 2070 and S. 865 reject and silence the will of voters in Puerto Rico.

H.R. 2070 and S. 865, Puerto Rico Self-Determination Act of 2021, by Rep. Nydia Velazquez (D-NY-07) and Senator Robert Menendez (D-NJ).

And can Puerto Ricans still retain their U.S. citizenship under other status options that are not statehood?

I urge the U.S. Congress to endorse the Puerto Rican Self-Determination bill.

Homophobic slurs are abundant in the rhetoric of the Statehood Party in Puerto Rico.

The proponents of statehood demand that we respect, according to them, their civil rights.

Biden won the election. Biden campaigned for President of the United States saying that he would not listen to that plebiscite.

I want everyone to understand that when they got a whopping 52 percent--wow, just imagine.

Is there anything in the U.S. Constitution that prohibits Congress from entertaining a free association agreement with Puerto Rico different from the current agreement and different from independence?

That is precisely what Nydia Velazquez and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's Puerto Rico Self-Determination Act offers.

In conclusion, we cannot decolonize Puerto Rico without a genuinely democratic and inclusive process.

H.R. 1522 proponents argue this bill is self-executing and that statehood is automatic. That is false.

The Puerto Rico Self-Determination Act is the inclusive democratic approach to solving Puerto Rico's status, while the Statehood Admission bill is a one-sided, undemocratic bill that does not even achieve the aim it supposedly purports.

Velazquez, Hon. Nydia M., a Representative in Congress from the State of New York.

Providing a universal voucher program would lift 9 million people out of poverty, reduce child poverty by 36 percent overall.

Without housing justice it is really hard to achieve racial justice.