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The Puerto Rico Chamber of Commerce announced in a press release that it has sent a delegation of representatives to the federal capital to promote the creation and financing of projects that will help reactivate the island’s economy, with a special emphasis on areas such as health, food and manufacturing.
Luis Gierbolini, president of the Chamber, informed that the Chamber of Commerce has created a new initiative, called FACES (Federal Affairs Chamber Educational Series), which goal is “educating and lobbying for a common agenda for Puerto Rico” not only before the U.S. federal government, but also before private sector organizations.
The Chamber of Commerce announced that it will seek the allocation of $1 billion for the island’s health sector, as well as maintaining the current percentage of federal medical assistance for Puerto Rico. In the health sector, the Chamber said it seeks to move the island from the Nutrition Assistance Program to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, which “would represent an increase” in both the amount of money allocated to recipients and the amount of people participating in the program.
The president of the Chamber of Commerce’s Federal Affairs Committee also announced that they will seek to exempt the island from the Wire Act, which imposes some limitations on the use of telephone lines for gambling-related transactions, so that the entertainment and gambling industry can “become a center of tourist attraction”.
Gierbolini concluded the press release by emphasizing that FACES will serve as a reference to congressmen and other members of the federal government and that the mission of the Chamber of Commerce is to insert itself in the discussions of the federal government to explain the perspective of the small and medium businessmen on the island.
The Chamber of Commerce delegation will be in Washington DC from September 19 to 23 and will be conformed by 12 people.
