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

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)