Sean Duffy: “The Puerto Rico unemployment rate is double the national average. Nearly one in every two residents lives below the…”

“The Puerto Rico unemployment rate is double the national average. Nearly one in every two residents lives below the poverty line. Economic growth is in the negative. We have heard about that all day today. Now, PROMESA will stop the bleeding, but there isn't an easy solution to jump-start the economy. We have a down payment in a commission, but this is, I think, a real step in the direction of trying to kick-start economic growth. My amendment, with my colleague from Puerto Rico (Mr. Pierluisi), will provide modest assistance to Puerto Rico by removing an impediment to the Small Business Administration's HUBZone program that limits the number of businesses on the island that are eligible for the program. This idea was brought to me by my friend Jaime Perello, the speaker of the Legislative Assembly of Puerto Rico, and it is a good one. What does it do? The HUBZone program is a small business, Federal contracting assistance program, whose primary objective is job creation and increasing capital investment in distressed communities. {time} 1730 Now, there is a 20 percent cap. So that 20 percent cap for this program might not affect Minneapolis or Chicago or Milwaukee because you don't even have 20 percent of the communities that are distressed. However, in Puerto Rico you have far more than 20 percent of the communities that are distressed. You have 80 percent of them that are distressed.…”