« Statement of US Secretary of Labor Hilda L. Solis on December 2009 employment numbers | Main | U.S. District Court Issues Injunction Against Chicago Transit Authority »
NPRC Urges 'Government-Wide Marshall Plan' for Puerto Rico
January 8, 2010With Puerto Rico's unemployment rate now at 16.5 percent, the Chairman and President of the National Puerto Rican Coalition today urged the President's Task Force on Puerto Rico's Status to develop "a government-wide 'Marshall Plan' to rebuild the economy of Puerto Rico," just as the federal government did in the Post-War years in restoring the economies of Western Europe. "In calling together the Task Force on Puerto Rico's Status, President Obama recognized both the need to move forward on the question of Puerto Rico's status and to respond to what is an emerging economic crisis in the U.S. Territory of Puerto Rico," said Chairperson Miguel Lausell. "The White House has brought together representatives of each and every cabinet department and agency," added President and CEO Rafael A. Fantauzzi. "With a crushing unemployment rate of 16.5 percent - higher, even, than the nation experienced during 1931, two years into the Great Depression - the Task Force must recognize that Puerto Rico is in crisis." Full release.