Senators call for investment in rebuilding of Puerto Rico

Roxbury native David Ortiz (2nd from left) has distributed 6,000 solar lanterns to Puerto Rican families lacking power. (Photo: David Ortiz)

U.S. Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders, along with five other senators, introduced an ambitious $146 billion plan for infrastructure repair and widespread hurricane relief for Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands last Tuesday.

The Equitable Rebuild Act would grant $62 billion to both islands’ governments, $27 billion to renovate infrastructure, and $13 billion to rebuild the electric grid with more sustainable and resilient technologies instead of the Stafford Act’s requirements that the grid simply be restored to its prior condition.

The act would also make Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands eligible for the same Medicare and Medicaid benefits as the rest of the United States.

“This bill is far reaching, it recognizes just how widespread the devastation has been,” said Warren in a Senate press conference last week. “It send a message. It tells tens of millions of U.S. citizens, ‘we have not forgotten you.’”

It’s been 11 weeks since category 4 Hurricane Maria ripped through Puerto Rico, where today 32 percent of the island still is without power, 7 percent is without access to water, 24 percent of cell sites are down, and 909 people remain in shelters, according to the government metric tracking website, status.pr.

The bill’s co-sponsors include Sens. Ed Markey, (D-MA) Richard Blumenthal, (D-CT) Kirsten Gillibrand, (D-NY) and Kamala Harris (D-CA).

The Virgin Islands’ delegate to Congress, Democratic Rep. Stacey Plaskett, Rep. Nydia Velázquez, (D-NY) and Rep. Darren Soto (D-FL) are introducing the House version.

Warren said she will be working on details for a Puerto Rican debt relief plan that “will fit the sentiment of today’s bill,” she said at last week’s press conference. “I look forward to working with Sen. Sanders and our colleagues to introduce the debt relief bill in the weeks ahead.”

Before the hurricane, the island’s government was carrying a debt load of $73 billion when it filed for bankruptcy in May.

“Puerto Rico needs full debt relief. This is critical,” said Warren. “The vulture funds that snapped up Puerto Rican debt should not get one cent from the island.”

Warren said that President Trump’s response to the destruction and devastation of the U.S. territory islands has been “too little, too late.”

“[In passing the bill] This is his opportunity to step up and do his job,” she said.

In late October, the president signed a $36.5 billion emergency aid measure, including up to $4.9 billion in loans, to refill disaster accounts and bail out the federal flood insurance program.

So far, FEMA has given more than $230 million in assistance to Puerto Ricans and has set aside more than $464 million in reimbursement for local authorities to rebuild public buildings and infrastructure.

Puerto Rican allies on the mainland have voiced support for the Equitable Rebuild Act, seen as a long-term solution for the island’s economic future.

Otoniel Figueroa-Duran, co-founder of Alliance for Puerto Rico, a Massachusetts-based grassroots organization, said the bill addresses both the immediate and long-term needs of Puerto Rico.

“We need to rebuild the economy for the working families who are the most vulnerable and were hit the hardest during the catastrophe,” he said.

Figueroa-Duran said members of Alliance for Puerto Rico plan to apply pressure on Congress before the Dec. 8 budget vote deadline. “We’re going to rally in the streets and contact our representatives,” he said.

For David Ortiz, program director for El Puente Enlace Latino de Accion Climatica, an organization based out of Brooklyn, New York, the bill’s funding for sustainable energy is the right move for an island that is currently only powered by over 1 percent of renewable energy.

“We’re trying to push Puerto Rico towards more renewable energy,” said Ortiz, who is currently located in San Juan.

Puerto Rico is lagging behind on its clean energy goals, outlined in a 2010 legislation called “Green Energy Incentives Act of Puerto Rico.”

“We were supposed to be at 12 percent clean energy by 2015,” said Ortiz.

Through his work with El Puente, he and other volunteers went door-to-door handing out about 6,000 rechargeable solar lanterns for those without power throughout the whole island, including a full church choir in San Juan who had been practicing their songs in the near-darkness.

“It was 5 p.m. and they couldn’t really see the music sheets in front of them,” recalled Ortiz. “They all started to applaud and invited me to sing with them when I told them they would each get a new lantern.”

El Puente also donated over 4,000 pounds of food, water and supplies, according to Ortiz.

Due to conditions in the U.S. territory, Ortiz said that many professionals have left the island. “How do we replace those professionals? Teachers, doctors, and lawyers?” he asked.

“It is not only a natural disaster situation but a political disaster too,” said Figueroa-Duran of Puerto Rico’s long-standing economic state. “What happened before Hurricane Maria laid the ground for the unfortunate situation right now.”