Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso used a Williamsburg press convention Monday to make Puerto Rico coverage a central piece of his marketing campaign for Congress, releasing a broad federal platform for the island alongside retiring U.S. Rep. Nydia Velázquez.
The plan provides Reynoso a brand new method to argue that he’s greatest positioned to hold ahead Velázquez’s legacy in New York’s seventh Congressional District, a closely Democratic Brooklyn-and-Queens seat with deep Puerto Rican political roots.
Reynoso is operating within the Democratic major in opposition to Queens Meeting Member Claire Valdez, who’s backed by the Democratic Socialists of America and Mayor Zohran Mamdani, and Queens Council Member Julie Received. The winner could be closely favored to succeed Velázquez, the primary Puerto Rican girl elected to Congress and one in all New York’s most influential progressive lawmakers.
Reynoso’s plan requires reintroducing the Puerto Rico Self-Willpower Act, setting a timeline to dissolve the federally imposed Fiscal Oversight and Administration Board referred to as La Junta, completely exempting Puerto Rico from the Jones Act, closing tax incentives previously referred to as Act 22 and now consolidated below Act 60, scrutinizing LUMA Vitality’s administration of Puerto Rico’s transmission and distribution grid and stopping a looming drop in federal Medicaid assist.
At Monday’s press convention, Reynoso described Puerto Rico coverage as each a federal obligation and an area subject for a district formed by generations of Puerto Rican organizing.
“We shouldn’t have to be Puerto Rican to help Puerto Rico,” mentioned Reynoso, who’s Dominican American. “The time for leaders outside of Puerto Rico, outside of being Puerto Rican, to stand up and fight for what is our moral and constitutional obligation is now.”
Reynoso additionally tied the platform to his family’s historical past in South Williamsburg. He mentioned his mother and father arrived within the neighborhood within the Nineteen Seventies and benefited from English-language lessons, workforce packages and youth packages constructed by Puerto Rican group leaders.
“My parents benefited from the hardships and the struggle of the Puerto Rican people,” he mentioned. “They laid the foundation for me to be able to stand here.”
Velázquez, who has endorsed Reynoso, mentioned members of Congress have a constitutional duty to interact with Puerto Rico’s standing and governance and praised Reynoso for making the island’s political future a marketing campaign precedence.
“Antonio is the only candidate in this race who truly understands that addressing Puerto Rico policy is not optional,” Velázquez mentioned, in accordance with a transcript of the occasion. “It is both a moral obligation and a constitutional responsibility.”
Reynoso needs Puerto Rico’s individuals to resolve island’s future
U.S. Rep. Nydia Velázquez speaks at a Williamsburg press convention Monday in assist of Antonio Reynoso’s Puerto Rico coverage platformPhoto courtesy of Josh Shub-Seltzer and Antonio Reynoso for Congress
Reynoso says Puerto Ricans ought to decide the island’s future via a binding, clear course of led by Puerto Ricans, together with island residents and members of the diaspora. His platform additionally requires dissolving La Junta, which was created below the federal PROMESA regulation and has lengthy been criticized by Puerto Rican advocates for austerity measures affecting colleges, hospitals, labor protections and public companies.
The platform additionally targets tax incentives and land hypothesis. Reynoso’s marketing campaign says Congress ought to shut loopholes utilized by rich mainland buyers, enhance transparency in land purchases, crack down on shell corporations and strengthen group land trusts to fight displacement.
A December report from the U.S. Authorities Accountability Workplace discovered that recipients of Puerto Rico tax incentives have been, on common, high-income and paid considerably much less federal tax after transferring to the island. The GAO additionally mentioned the general impact of the incentives on Puerto Rico’s financial system is tough to isolate and really helpful stronger IRS oversight of taxpayers claiming federal tax exemptions.
Velázquez highlighted the identical subject Monday, saying she was “especially supportive” of Reynoso’s dedication to closing Act 22 loopholes and confronting company land hypothesis. She mentioned rich buyers and vulture funds have used these loopholes to purchase land, displace communities and threaten environmentally delicate areas.
Reynoso’s plan additionally opposes the proposed Esencia growth, which the marketing campaign says threatens mangroves, wetlands, wildlife habitats, archaeological websites and coastal ecosystems. The platform says Reynoso would work with Puerto Rican lawmakers, environmental advocates and group teams to strengthen environmental protections and examine the company buildings behind such tasks.
On well being care, Reynoso’s marketing campaign factors to Puerto Rico’s Medicaid funding cliff as a serious federal precedence. Federal Medicaid studies state Puerto Rico’s enhanced 76% federal matching charge runs via Sept. 30, 2027. With out additional congressional motion, the island faces a drop in federal assist after that date, a shift advocates warn would pressure an already fragile well being care system.
The marketing campaign’s plan says Reynoso would combat to stop the cliff, develop long-term well being funding parity, spend money on well being care workforce retention and shield hospitals and group clinics from closure.
Vitality coverage was one other focus of the announcement. Reynoso’s platform requires investigating funds supplied to LUMA Vitality, the personal operator of Puerto Rico’s electrical transmission and distribution system, and increasing federal funding in renewable power and grid resilience.
On the occasion, Reynoso criticized what he described as a scarcity of accountability for Puerto Rico’s blackouts and mentioned the federal authorities has did not adequately assist the island.
Erica González Martinez, director of the Energy 4 Puerto Rico Coalition, referred to as Reynoso’s platform “one of the most thorough, thoughtful, and substantive platforms” she had seen from a congressional candidate in years. She mentioned the coalition’s 501(c)(4) teams and leaders endorsed Reynoso due to his file and his commitments on self-determination, immigration, displacement and opposition to the fiscal management board.
Reynoso mentioned the plan was developed with Puerto Ricans from each the island and the diaspora and described himself as a “megaphone” for Puerto Rican communities.
“I am committing to the people of Puerto Rico,” he mentioned, “and I am going to be not only an ally, but their strongest champion when I get to Congress.”
In a press release, Julie Received’s marketing campaign mentioned she believes “the question of Puerto Rico’s political status belongs to the people of Puerto Rico” and that she would co-sponsor the Democracy for Puerto Rico Act, which the marketing campaign mentioned would set up a legally binding course of for Puerto Ricans to find out their political future via a vote.
Received’s marketing campaign additionally mentioned Puerto Rico’s power disaster is “a federal failure” and that she would push for federal accountability for LUMA and Genera PR whereas in search of to hurry the discharge of delayed FEMA reconstruction funds. On Act 60, the marketing campaign mentioned rich mainland Individuals are utilizing Puerto Rico as “a personal tax shelter” and that Received would push for stronger residency enforcement and shutting loopholes that permit rich taxpayers to keep away from federal taxes.
New York News has additionally reached out to Valdez’s campaigns to ask what they might prioritize in Puerto Rico coverage if elected to Congress.
