Pedro Pierluisi

The American citizens of Puerto Rico did not come to us after these disasters with their hands out.

The terms of PROMESA need to be met; the bonds need to be rated by major credit rating agencies.

The debt needs to be the lower the better.

We would like to be included in the SNAP program, and we are requesting that. It is only fair that we get the same nutrition assistance as our fellow American citizens in the States.

I will not support a deal that will bind the people of Puerto Rico with a bad deal for the next 30, 40, 50 years.

Nobody should expect that I will allow, if I can help it, for a major disruption of our system just because some people didn't like the P3 process.

Canceling that contract is, to me, a nightmare.

We need to do public-private partnerships for both transmission and distribution and generation, and actually split the two so that there is no monopoly in Puerto Rico.

There is an energy transformation law in Puerto Rico, which was approved on a bipartisan basis in 2018.

That is a game-changer. So, that is new.

For about 3 years, the spending that happened in Puerto Rico was emergency spending by FEMA.

I will try to be brief, but----

We are devoting $1.3 billion of CDBG-DR funding for microgrids, distributed energy initiatives in remote communities.

We need to improve our energy system so we don't have this power disruption for so long after a major disaster.

We need to have a lot more discussion about that.

We cannot repair the units or give them even regular maintenance, as they should.

FEMA has agreed to come in and assist us in increasing our power generation for a period of time which could range between 1 year and 1½ years.

I thank you for favorably reporting H.R. 8393 out of this Committee and urge Congress to approve it.

The people of Puerto Rico voted and chose permanent union with the United States through statehood as their path forward.

We respectfully ask this Committee and Congress to help us address some additional challenges that we are facing in our ongoing post-disaster reconstruction.

Last month, I formally requested emergency assistance from FEMA to stabilize our power system by providing additional generation assets and accelerating work on our transmission and distribution grid.

Congress should call for a vote on the political future of Puerto Rico and commit to implementing the will of the majority.

The people of Puerto Rico voted and chose statehood as their path forward.

I am pleased to report that Puerto Rico is emerging from a challenging period with strength and optimism into a new era of stability evidenced by the island's economic upswing.

What is being done with the billions of dollars in aid? What are the plans? When will we see results?