Residential Commissioner Jenniffer González Colón on Thursday outlined her work schedule for the start of the four-year period and the federal funds she hopes will reach the island.
“We have a very comprehensive agenda in Congress for this term that starts with production credits, production incentives for Puerto Rico positioning us with this pandemic, apparently in the fight for equality to have that unequivocal mandate of the people of Puerto Rico in favor of it in November. become a state and now with a democratic senate. And the Democratic leadership had said it would support Puerto Rico in this. I hope to see it in action and we are going to work towards it, ”said González Colón in an interview with Foro Noticioso.
“Also this year in September, the Medicaid funds are due to expire with the approval that we got two years at 100 percent and two years at 86 percent, so now it’s going back to 55 (percent), so this is one of the areas we will fight, ”he added.
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On the fiscal front, the commissioner described that “we have economic development measures including retail credit, credit for work, these are funds that go straight into people’s wallets, the fight for additional social security, expansion permanently so that Puerto Rico becomes considered an air cargo center ”.
“There are also other measures of economic development that we have presented in different categories in the financial area, in the area of banking, in the area of insurance. We have set up several of these projects in the field of health. We will be in the energy section after the disbursement of CDBG funds for the Electric Power Authority repair that have already been approved in Housing. Yesterday, the Federal Department of Health allocated $ 183 million to Puerto Rico to test for COVID and $ 28 million to purchase vaccines and vaccination activities in Puerto Rico. These new funds arriving on the island are intended for this ”, he suggested.
Also yesterday, $ 1.3 billion was allocated by the federal government for the Department of Education in Puerto Rico to try to return to normal in schools from kindergarten through fourth grade, they are part of the funds we continue to process, ”said González Colón.
“I’m not going to stop looking for more resources to speed up Puerto Rico’s reconstruction and seek equality in those federal programs,” he concluded.