US Territories’ April 1-7, 2019 news week in tweets

by Apr 8, 2019News Week in Tweets0 comments

Democratic Representatives grill HUD over Puerto Rico funds

Representatives Maxine Waters (D) of California, Sylvia Garcia (D) of Texas, and Nydia Velazquez (D) of New York grilled Jeremy Kirkland of the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development over the appropriations of $20 billion in disaster relief funds designated for Puerto Rico. HUD has been slow to present information and details over the appropriation of these funds and has not answered whether the Trump administration has pressured for the funds to be withheld.

In 2018 the Northern Mariana Islands were the Ninth Fastest Growing Tourist Destination in the World

The Northern Mariana Islands depends heavily on tourism to stimulate its economy with the service industry accounting for 40% of its GDP and 88% of its labor force. The fast growth in 2018 of the tourism industry could help with economic growth on the archipelago.

Governor of Guam Legalizes marijuana becoming the first US jurisdiction to do so in 2019

Guam becomes the first US jurisdiction to legalize marijuana in 2019.

US territories of Puerto Rico, US Virgin Islands, American Samoa, and Guam all have lower incarceration rates than mainland United States

The United States has one of the higher incarceration rates in the world. As judicial reform becomes a more popular political topic in the United States American legislatures can look to the American territories of Puerto Rico, US Virgin Islands, American Samoa, and Guam for guidance.

President Donald Trump continues to make inaccurate statements about the amount of funds allocated to Puerto Rico

President Donald Trump recently tweeted that Puerto Rico had received $91 billion in disaster relief when the real figure is closer to $11 billion of a total of $41 billion that was set aside for Puerto Rico in funding. Trump has bashed Puerto Rican officials for supposedly mismanaging funds as the reason for Puerto Rico’s slow recovery while offering no explanation where his $91 billion figure came from.