Congresswoman Stacey Plaskett issued the following statement in response to Governor Kenneth Mapp’s 2016 State of the Territory Address.
“The Governor covered a number of areas this evening in his State of the Territory Address to the people of the Virgin Islands. Governor Mapp outlined some of the areas of progress that he felt have been made by his administration over the past year, as well as the issues that he is currently working on, in conjunction with the members of the 31st Legislature. While the Territory’s economy appears to finally be inching toward recovery, there are still a great deal of important issues that need to be addressed.
Our people are still feeling the effects of the 2008 recession, and similarly, local businesses continue to be burdened with high operating costs. My office will continue our work in Congress and in support of our local territorial government towards the improvement of the Virgin Islands economy. In the coming weeks we will be inviting groups down to the territory that will assist our efforts to advance the interests of our local businesses, as well as our schools and veterans affairs.
We are also actively engaged in discussions with leadership in Congress in the effort to ensure the Virgin Islands and the other insular areas are included in any larger, comprehensive legislation being debated that would help to address Puerto Rico’s debt crisis. We see this issue as an opportunity to have Congress address the much larger issues that have contributed a great deal to the disparities that exist in the territories. Similarly, my office remains committed to continually highlighting and ultimately eliminating the inequalities facing the Virgin Islands and the other insular territories."
