the appointment of Jennifer Granholm to lead reconstruction efforts for the U.S. Government is a positive step

The main issue for our problems, financial problems, is the status. And that is the root of the problem.

What will be your main request, aside for doing the Stafford Act amendment?

I don't have a question for you, sir.

Puerto Rico has been facing a long and tough recovery in every sense of the word.

many of those funds, the funding is not being used because of the hurdles and the red tape of many Federal agencies to use on the island.

The next request will be requiring the action plan for the rebuilding of the power grid system to the Committee, including timelines and estimated years in which milestones are to be achieved.

What we are supporting here is what the people of the island voted for, and that is statehood.

Thank you, my dear friend, for yielding the time, for visiting the island, and being always available for the issues regarding Puerto Rico.

A Resident Commissioner in Congress from the Territory of Puerto Rico.

This Committee did not pass H.R. 1522. We passed H.R. 8393. That was a consensus bill that had many hearings through the years.

I understand that the biggest challenge Puerto Rico is facing is the unstable condition of the grid and the generation plants, and we all know that back home.

I think Puerto Rico has been facing many----

The only ones elected to do that job is the Governor of Puerto Rico, who is sitting right there, and me.

How much has LUMA been paid over the last year?

loopholes should not be a part of that Executive Order.

These and many other projects in towns across the islands... require attention, and it is my hope that we can soon hear good news about them.

I will say that the Corps is one of the best resources I have counted on for Puerto Rico.

The Corps of Engineers projects have been critical resources I have counted on for Puerto Rico.

The American Society of Civil Engineers decided that Puerto Rico needed more than $3 billion to bring our network just to good repair.

We approved the infrastructure bill a few days ago, the President signed it, but there are still a lot of areas that we can improve.

I have introduced H.R. 1967, which will allow Puerto Rico to issue commercial driver's licenses to truckdrivers in Puerto Rico.

I fear we sometimes tend to focus on larger commercial fishing operations and forget about the needs of our small-scale fishermen.

Congress should enact the "Housing Survivors of Major Disasters Act," (H.R. 3037)

We need to continue to leverage these collaborative partnerships to invest in the best monitoring science and technology.