Puerto Rico Senate President Thomas Rivera Schatz said Thursday that the Legislature already fulfilled its responsibility by unanimously approving two bills creating reserve funds for budget stabilization and public capital, House Projects 1261 and 1262, which Governor Jenniffer González vetoed. His response came after a letter from the Oversight Board (JSF), in which executive director Robert Mujica questioned La Fortaleza’s proposal to exempt prepared foods from the sales and use tax (IVU) for the next two months.
Mujica wrote that the two projects represented the permanent safeguard the government committed to for financing tax relief with non-recurring funds. Rivera Schatz said the Legislature has been responsible on every issue and that initiatives the governor took without the Legislature, like the IVU exemption, have had their consequences, which the people can judge. He also argued the fiscal board lacks moral authority to demand fiscal discipline, pointing to its own spending on contractors and advisors and its poor record of meeting its own objectives and calendars.
On whether he favors the prepared-food exemption to ease rising electricity costs, he said no one could oppose relief but questioned whether it would be sufficient, arguing the situation should be treated as an emergency with funds directed to vulnerable sectors like low-income people, hospitals, schools, and childcare centers. After the letter, the governor met with Mujica at La Fortaleza to present additional alternatives but revealed no details.