Puerto Rico - calling for federal action
US Federal Government is failing Puerto Rico
An echo opinion from Endi Editorial: "clear answers from the federal government are necessary."
El Nuevo Día (English: The New Day) is the newspaper with the highest circulation in Puerto Rico.
Almost a hundred days after the scourge of Hurricane Maria, it is imperative that Congress and the White House offer greater certainty to the island and that the status of the crucial loan requested for disaster mitigation –and which distribution must be coordinated with the Board- is specified.
The island is in an even worse scenarario after the postponement until January 2018 of the consideration of a global additional allocation of $ 81 billion for the recovery of Texas, Florida, the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico, and to mitigate the damage caused by forest fires in California.
Negative blasts in the federal capital have not stopped since an increase in Medicaid funds, requested to keep afloat the Mi Salud (My health) program, which serves 1.2 million medically indigent people, or exemptions to the requirements in the matching of funds for reconstruction programs, due to the lack of liquidity of the local government, were not included in Congress measures.
The special conditions that the Federal Treasury Department considers in order to give liquidity to the government of Puerto Rico through a loan of about $ 4,7 billion must be established without delay, so that the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority, which requires these funds to continue the task of repairing the power grid, has those funds available as soon as possible.
In sum, although there is no positive response to the proposals that Puerto Rico has brought to Washington D.C., the government of the island can not be discouraged. It has to step up in the revision of the fiscal plan tempered to the new scenarios, which contemplate structural and budgetary adjustments and the eventual payment of the public debt. It would help to leave short-term vision behind, in order to project the government towards stabilization and, the island, towards the necessary sustainable development.
Offering guarantees of transparency and oversight that will dispel doubts about the proper use of federal funds is in the hands of Puerto Rico's government.
In order to achieve an adequate and effective funds programming, it is necessary to harmonize different management approaches in a single plan with clear goals and compliance metrics.
Curbing uncertainty about the island's recovery- The scenario for 2018 darkens with the approved federal tax reform that ruled out important protection provisions for jobs generated by foreign companies that contribute to the island's economy.
The recovery of Puerto Rico before its complex fiscal situation and post-hurricane devastation has been left behind by the federal government, right in this critical period of partial paralysis of economic activity, in which urgent needs for basic services persist.Almost a hundred days after the scourge of Hurricane Maria, it is imperative that Congress and the White House offer greater certainty to the island and that the status of the crucial loan requested for disaster mitigation –and which distribution must be coordinated with the Board- is specified.
The island is in an even worse scenarario after the postponement until January 2018 of the consideration of a global additional allocation of $ 81 billion for the recovery of Texas, Florida, the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico, and to mitigate the damage caused by forest fires in California.
Negative blasts in the federal capital have not stopped since an increase in Medicaid funds, requested to keep afloat the Mi Salud (My health) program, which serves 1.2 million medically indigent people, or exemptions to the requirements in the matching of funds for reconstruction programs, due to the lack of liquidity of the local government, were not included in Congress measures.
The special conditions that the Federal Treasury Department considers in order to give liquidity to the government of Puerto Rico through a loan of about $ 4,7 billion must be established without delay, so that the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority, which requires these funds to continue the task of repairing the power grid, has those funds available as soon as possible.
In sum, although there is no positive response to the proposals that Puerto Rico has brought to Washington D.C., the government of the island can not be discouraged. It has to step up in the revision of the fiscal plan tempered to the new scenarios, which contemplate structural and budgetary adjustments and the eventual payment of the public debt. It would help to leave short-term vision behind, in order to project the government towards stabilization and, the island, towards the necessary sustainable development.
Offering guarantees of transparency and oversight that will dispel doubts about the proper use of federal funds is in the hands of Puerto Rico's government.
In order to achieve an adequate and effective funds programming, it is necessary to harmonize different management approaches in a single plan with clear goals and compliance metrics.
Unity of purpose –rather than disperse and contradictory actions- is the best platform to achieve success in lobbying in the federal capital.
The scenario for 2018 darkens with the approved federal tax reform that ruled out important protection provisions for jobs generated by foreign companies that contribute to the island's economy.
Commissioner Jennifer Gonzalez said yesterday that there are several beneficial amendments for the island, but no details have been disclosed yet, beyond the intention to promote the mechanism of special development zones.
The scenario for 2018 darkens with the approved federal tax reform that ruled out important protection provisions for jobs generated by foreign companies that contribute to the island's economy.
Commissioner Jennifer Gonzalez said yesterday that there are several beneficial amendments for the island, but no details have been disclosed yet, beyond the intention to promote the mechanism of special development zones.
In this sense, it is important that the official, as well as the governor, refine the strategy to be heard in Washington D.C.
In these initiatives, the government of Puerto Rico must keep a consolidated strategy and persist in recovering the credibility undermined with past failures.
Clarifying the funds available in the bank accounts made by the Puerto Rico Fiscal Agency and Financial Advisory Authority and recently submitted to the Board has been a good step towards that.
However, the design of a new fiscal plan can not be completed without the information about the allocations to mitigate the disaster to be approved by the Federal Treasury for Puerto Rico and without certainty about possible congressional adjustments to help the island's economy.
However, the design of a new fiscal plan can not be completed without the information about the allocations to mitigate the disaster to be approved by the Federal Treasury for Puerto Rico and without certainty about possible congressional adjustments to help the island's economy.
That is the reason why clear answers from the federal government are necessary.
Labels: El Nuevo Día
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