Thank you, Mr. Secretary, for your call yesterday and your well wishes, and I would like to take this opportunity to draw your attention to issues in Puerto Rico transportation.

I will be supporting the continued funding of this program as well as of others in the budget request.

Puerto Rico is not included in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP.

I am so happy to be here, and I wish you a fast recovery. You are a true friend of the island.

SNAP would ensure residents in Puerto Rico, like those living in the 50 states, D.C., the U.S. Virgin Islands, and Guam, are properly supported.

I have introduced legislation that will add these crops as priority research areas for the Department of Agriculture.

We are grateful to Chairman Westerman for stewardship of COFA renewal so far.

despite our compact agreement, the Freely Associated States are independent nations, that if we in the United States fail to remain engaged and do not renew our economic agreement with them, there will be nothing in the way to stop…

Without undue delay, we can and should exercise oversight and move the agreements forward.

Under the terms of the Freely Associated agreements, compact citizens can migrate and work in the United States but they are not U.S. citizens or nationals.

I am working to address the issue of the commercial driver's license in Puerto Rico through my bill, H.R. 919.

Puerto Rico received a D-minus score by the American Society of Civil Engineers scorecard published in 2019 because the bridges, ports, and roads are among the lowest grades per individual category.

I would love to have a copy of that report that you promised.

If you can provide the committee information about where we are with the latest update of those funds...

H.R. 1792, sponsored by Mrs. Radewagen, would implement amendments to the South Pacific Tuna Treaty that were adopted back in 2016.

What actions will EPA take if the agencies receive an adverse comment post-September the 1st?

we suffered Hurricane Maria in 2017, earthquakes, and Hurricane Fiona. And we still have a lot of Federal funds that are not being used

the EPA announced in the Federal Register a settlement modification to a 2016 consent decree with Puerto Rico Aqueduct and Sewer Authority

Protecting them is therefore a priority for us.

We thank Resident Commissioner Jenniffer Gonzalez-Colon (R-PR-At Large) for introducing this legislation.

That is the kind of politics we should be pushing from our executive branch.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

So, yes, there should be some flexibility, but if an emergency declaration keeps renewing 40 years, 24 years, is it really an emergency, or is it just a way to have a continuing policy that for some reason, Congress or the President does…

I was proud to support and advocate for this long-overdue reauthorization, along with Senators Marco Rubio, Congressman Darren Soto, and a bipartisan and bicameral group of colleagues in that sense.