Bernie Sanders to unveil a $146 billion Marshall Plan for Puerto Rico

[Donkees]

By Jeff Stein November 28 at 6:00 AM

Excerpt:

On Tuesday, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) will unveil an ambitious $146 billion Puerto Rico recovery plan he says will allow renewable power sources such as solar and wind to provide about 70 percent of the island’s energy needs within the decade.

The bill, which has the backing of San Juan Mayor Yulín Cruz, also calls on Congress to consider retiring Puerto Rico’s debt and would give the island billions in additional federal funding for transportation, health care and education in the hopes of stemming a feared mass exodus to the mainland. It would also allocate funds to the Virgin Islands, which were similarly devastated by Hurricane Maria.

Sanders’s bill would give $62 billion to help the cash-strapped Puerto Rican government pay off its debt; $51 billion for economic development; $27 billion for infrastructure, including new energy infrastructure; and billions more for education and environmental remediation.

Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) and Kamala D. Harris (D-Calif.) will co-sponsor Sanders’s bill, and a handful of other Democratic senators are considering doing so as well. It has also been endorsed by 42 liberal and labor organizations, including MoveOn.org, the Sierra Club, and the Service Employees International Union.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2017/11/28/bernie-sanders-to-unveil-a-146-billion-marshall-plan-for-puerto-rico/



San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulín Cruz talks to Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) during a visit Oct. 27 to the Playita community in San Juan, Puerto Rico. (AFP/Getty Images)

[Tavarious Jackson]

1. I wish this would come true

but we all know it won't

[GaryCnf]

2. I'm glad one of our most important allies

is talking about people's lives instead of the last election.

Thanks also to the proud liberal Democrats (many of whom now stand accused of blasphemy) who co-signed.

[Kentonio]

3. +1000

[seaglass]

6. Talk, talk, talk - no one ever said Bernie doesn't talk enough. n/t

[Tom Rinaldo]

7. Talk??? This is legislating.

Would you rather he hadn't introduced that legislation? If he went down there and spent every day working on rebuilding the power grid with his own hands would you fault him for not doing his work in Congress?

[seaglass]

10. Call me skeptical. Bernie has a 30 year history of submitting bills with no outcome. I

would love to be proven wrong.

[GaryCnf]

8. Even if it were just talk, which it isn't

We have some Democrats talking about people and some talking mostly about themselves.

[seaglass]

11. Don't know what you're implying. n/t

[Tom Rinaldo]

4. This is how an honorable government responds when citizens are in crisis n/t

[FarCenter]

5. Interesting, but does this lead to sustainable development in Puerto Rico?

Puerto Rico seems to have little natural resources other than agricultural land. Besides a small agricultural sector, the economy is based on tourism and packaging pharmaceuticals.

[GaryCnf]

9. Does de-population

due to a decimated infrastructure lead to "sustainable development?"

But no, by all means, let's focus on getting Big Pharma and resort owners back on their feet.

I know one resort owner that always likes a good hand out after a national disaster. I am sure there are others.