House passes Puerto Rico aid in face of Trump veto threat
Source: ABC News
The Democratic-controlled House on Friday passed a $20 billion-plus aid package for Puerto Rico, where a swarm of earthquakes last month set back the island territory's slow, troubled recovery from the hurricane devastation of 2017.
The legislation, approved by a mostly party-line 237-161 vote, would provide more than $5 billion in emergency appropriations, mostly for housing aid, rebuilding infrastructure, and repairing roads and bridges. It also includes $16 billion worth of tax breaks, mostly designed to extend refundable child tax credits for low-income families and to give the island's residents equal access to an earned income tax credit for low-income earners.
But the White House has promised to veto the legislation, charging the island's government of mismanagement and weak financial controls. It arrives in the Senate as a dead letter anyway. Puerto Rico's non-voting congressional delegate, Jenniffer Gonzalez-Colon, a Republican, urged Democrats to look for common ground in hopes of getting agreement on an aid package the White House might accept.
The Trump administration has been slow to release $44 billion in money that's already been approved for Puerto Rico, stoking the ire of Democrats, who mounted a high-profile campaign to try to force the administration to release aid more quickly. A White House veto threat took note of huge balances of unspent aid.
Read more: https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory/house-passes-puerto-rico-aid-face-trump-veto-68827599
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