Jenniffer González puts forth the goals of House Intergovernmental Affairs Task Force at inaugural meeting
The US House of Representatives Speaker’s Task Force on Intergovernmental Affairs, created with the goal of a better balance of powers between the federal and the state, local and tribal governments, held its first public hearing today with the participation of Puerto Rico Resident Commissioner Jenniffer González-Colón.
The Resident Commissioner, a member of the Task Force who as a state legislator was very active in the leadership of the Council of State Governments (CSG), one of the organizations who make up the Task Force’s Advisory Council, gave faith in the hearing of how Puerto Rico benefitted from having achieved equal treatment with the states in CSG; as such she pointed out how “it is so very important to have the states be able to make policies that serve their people and share information to adopt best practices.”
“This Task Force will seek to empower those levels of government closest to the people, and to know what are the real needs of local governments that require federal attention”, stated González-Colón, who during her turn invited the organizations to provide their specific concerns as to areas in which the federal government power may be encroaching rather than helping local governments.
The first hearing of the US House of Representatives Speaker’s Task Force on Intergovernmental Affairs counted with the presence of Speaker Paul Ryan himself, who entrusted its work to Congressman Rob Bishop as Chairman of the Task Force.
Today the committee heard presentations from four of the seven member organizations of the Task Force Advisory Council: National Association of Counties, National Governors Association, Council of State Governments and National League of Cities.
With González-Colón (R) and Chairman Bishop of Utah another five Republican congressmen form the majority delegation in the Task Force: Gary Palmer of Alabama; Luke Messer of Indiana; Mark Walker of North Carolina; John Culberson of Texas; and Lee Zeldin of New York.
The Democratic delegation is composed of Representatives Richard Neal of Massachusetts; Raúl Grijalva of Arizona; Gerry Connolly of Virginia; Norma Torres of California; Anthony Brown of Maryland, and Charlie Crist of Florida.
