Sanders and Velazquez propose to give equal access to Puerto Rico to federal food assistance [View all]

They present a project to include the island in the Supplementary Nutritional Assistance Program

Wednesday, March 6, 2019 - 10:00 AM

By José A. Delgado



Translation Excerpt:

Washington - Bernie Sanders (Vermont), in the Senate, and Nydia Velázquez (New York), in the House of Representatives, today filed a bill that would direct Puerto Rico to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), which would represent an increase in food aid received by 1.35 million people on the island.

The projects would authorize Puerto Rico, American Samoa, and the Northern Mariana Islands to submit plans to the US Secretary of Agriculture to provide access to SNAP, under which food assistance is distributed in all 50 states, and the territories of Guam. and the Virgin Islands.

Puerto Rico faces a cap on access to food assistance funds, through the Nutrition Assistance Program (PAN), for which the island receives this federal fiscal year about $ 1,900 million.

For Senator Sanders, the measure would end the unequal treatment of some territories in access to food assistance and would help Puerto Rico "not only to recover from the hurricane, but to provide aid to the most vulnerable in our society."

In the Senate, the legislation has the coauspicio of 10 Democratic senators: Robert Menéndez (New Jersey); Elizabeth Warren (Massachusetts); Kamala Harris (California); Jeff Merkley (Oregon); Richard Blumenthal (Connecticut); Corey Booker (New Jersey); Edward Markey (Massachusetts); Kirsten Gillibrand (New York); and the number two of the minority, Richard Durbin (Illinois).


https://www.elnuevodia.com/noticias/eeuu/nota/berniesandersynydiavelazquezproponendaraccesoigualapuertoricoalaasistenciaalimentariafederal-2480608/

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