The Biden administration has appointed a prominent advocate for federal benefits for residents of Puerto Rico and other territories to a new White House position.
Gretchen Sierra Zorita will serve as deputy director for Puerto Rico and the Territories in the White House Office of Intergovernmental Affairs, according to reports by El Nuevo and the Pacific News Center.
The news reports said Sierra Zorita is the first person in any administration to hold this position within the Office of Intergovernmental Affairs.
Sierra Zorita will presumably be the go-to person within the Biden administration for the commonwealth’s Puerto Rico Federal Affairs Office located a few blocks from the White House.
President Biden last year campaigned on improving federal benefits for residents of Puerto Rico.
President Trump, in contrast, was wary of federal emergency spending for Puerto Rico and last year appointed Coast Guard Rear Admiral Peter J. Brown as the island’s federal disaster aid coordinator to provide oversight. In addition, the Department of Housing and Urban Development appointed a federal financial monitor for Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
Sierra Zorita has been a member of the board of directors for Equally American, which advocates for equality and representation for the 3.5 million citizens living in U.S. territories.
She also is the principal at Polivox787, a two-year-old Latino public affairs and communications consulting firm based in Washington, D.C.
Rosanna Torres, director of the Washington office of the Puerto Rico-focused Center for a New Economy, described the appointment as “a good signal for us Puerto Ricans that have long asked the federal government to step up its game.”
The recently enacted $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan includes an extension of the federal Earned Income Tax Credit and the full Child Tax Credit to all eligible families in Puerto Rico.
Torres said those moves were “an important first step.”
“And this is a necessary second,” said Torres. “Gretchen has always shown a selfless commitment towards the island. Having her experience and expertise will be indispensable to the new administration as they continue to engage in Puerto Rico’s affairs.”
Neil Weare, president and founder of Equally American, described the creation of Sierra Zorita’s new position as “a significant shift towards inclusion and equality for citizens of the territories.”
“President Biden has made an excellent choice,” Weare said. “Having someone of Gretchen’s knowledge and expertise in the White House will be a gamechanger for Puerto Rico and the territories.”
According to Sierra Zorita’s online LinkedIn profile, her firm “offers strategic advice on public policy and government relations, coalition building and advocacy, and media engagement. Gretchen is widely respected for her knowledgeable and thoughtful expertise on the complex and nuanced topics relating to Puerto Rico and the Puerto Rican diaspora.”
In December, she wrote an opinion piece published by The Hill newspaper on the U.S. Senate race in Georgia, pointing out that the concerns of the 97,000 Puerto Ricans living there do not always correspond with those of other Latinos.
“Puerto Ricans, unlike members of other Latino communities, need not fear deportation and, therefore, issues like immigration policy and Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) mean little to them,” she wrote. “Instead, they care deeply about the political status and economic viability of their home island, where all of them still have family and friends.”
She said Puerto Ricans disagree on whether their island should seek statehood, so the Senate candidate should focus on Biden’s proposed solutions, which include reconstruction of the island’s infrastructure, parity in key federal programs, and economic development initiatives.
