Carmen Feliciano will be the next PRFAA director

Washington dc – Lawyer Carmen Feliciano will be the next director of the Federal Affairs Administration of Puerto Rico (PRFAA), Governor Pedro Pierluisi Urrutia announced today.

Pierluisi offered the post this week to Feliciano, who was his chief of staff when he was resident commissioner.

“I know very well the work and professionalism of Carmen, her ability and experience in Washington DC. She is a hardworking and committed woman in Puerto Rico who has served her country well from the federal capital, where she is highly respected. and known “, has indicated the governor.

The appointment comes two weeks after the new administration began and a few days after Pierluisi’s first trip to the US capital as governor, for the January 20 swearing-in of Joe Biden as president. Former Prfaa director Jennifer Storipan resigned on December 28.

Pierluisi had recently indicated to The New Day that in one way or another Feliciano was going to collaborate with his government.

Until December, Feliciano was director of the Puerto Rico Senate office.

Washington-based commissioner Jenniffer González, who had fierce battles with advisers to then-governor Ricardo Rosselló in the federal capital, had indicated that Governor Pierluisi had consulted him on the selection process for Prfaa’s leadership. which took longer than usual.

“Carmen’s experience on Puerto Rican affairs in the federal capital as the past chief of staff of today’s Governor Pierluisi when he was resident commissioner and in front of the Senate office in Washington since d is unquestionable. “Where we work on various issues. I welcome this appointment and congratulate the new director,” said Commissioner Gonzalez, in the same statement in which Pierluisi made the appointment official.

The new director of Prfaa has a bachelor’s degree in Arts, International Relations and French, Magna Cum Laude, and a Juris Doctor from Syracuse University.

The person in charge of Prfaa has had in recent years a salary of $ 150,000 per year, although in the midst of the fiscal crisis and public debt was reduced during the government of Alejandro García Padilla, temporarily, to $ 135,000. Under the government of Ricardo Rosselló, the salary was again $ 150,000 per year.

Of about a dozen offices it had at the beginning of the last decade, Prfaa only has one satellite office, in Orlando, Florida.

Prfaa’s budget has shrunk to about $ 2.4 million a year, although the last Progressive New Party (PNP) government passed a law, after the election, to allocate $ 1.2 million to fund from hence the expenses of the Equality Commission.

Another law passed after the election before the Legislature fell under majorities of the Democratic People’s Party (PPD) has proposed choosing in May six intriguing statesmen who would have their base of operations in Prfaa and who are presumed to replace members of the Equality Commission.

These intriguing statesmen, unlike members of the Equality Commission, would be full-time employees of the Puerto Rican government, with an office in Prfaa.