Sanders presents $146B plan to help Puerto Rico

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) on Tuesday unveiled a $146 billion relief package for Puerto Rico, which is still recovering after a hurricane tore through the island earlier this year.

He hopes that 70 percent of the island’s energy needs within the next 10 years will be provided through renewable power sources as a result of the plan.

{mosads}The bill would also give the island more federal funding for health care, education and transportation.

“This is the closest we have to a Marshall Plan for Puerto Rico,” Ramón Luis Nieves, a former member of the Senate of Puerto Rico, told The Washington Post, which first reported on the plan.

The plan would allot money for helping the island pay off its debt and for infrastructure. It also targets $51 billion for economic development.

“More than two months after Hurricane Maria, in the wealthiest nation in the history of the world, most of the homes in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands are still without electricity. This is beyond belief,” Sanders told the newspaper.

“Congress must work with the people of Puerto Rico to fundamentally transform its expensive, antiquated and unreliable system.”

President Trump faced criticism in the past over the federal government’s response to the devastation on the island, as people struggled without access to clean water or power.

Sanders’s bill is backed by San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulín Cruz, who has quarreled with Trump in the aftermath of the hurricane.

Puerto Rico Gov. Ricardo Rosselló said in a statement the island is committed to rebuilding “smarter and stronger than ever before.”

“But we need all the assistance we can get from the federal government,” he said, according to the Post.

“We welcome all discussions and proposals being discussed in the United States Senate, including Senator Bernie Sanders’ proposed bill, that seek to provide the resources necessary to rebuild Puerto Rico.”

Other Democratic senators plan to co-sponsor the bill, including Elizabeth Warren (Mass.) and Kirsten Gillibrand (N.Y.).