Méndez expected to return as House speaker
By The Star Staff
Presumptive governor-elect Jenniffer González Colón met with New Progressive Party (NPP) lawmakers on Thursday to announce who will preside over the legislative branch in January.
“We have a new president-elect of the Senate of Puerto Rico in Senator Thomas Rivera Schatz,” González Colón said at a press conference.
It will be Rivera Schatz’s third stint as Senate president.
Former House Speaker Carlos “Johnny” Méndez Nuñez was on track at press time to become speaker again.
Regarding the Senate, Sen. Carmelo Ríos Santiago of Bayamón will be one vice president along with a female senator who has yet to be elected. The caucus chose Sen. Gregorio Matías Rosario as majority leader.
Rivera Schatz said he will be appointing the heads of committees later.
“The people of Puerto Rico know the legislation that we are going to present because the people of Puerto Rico voted for the government platform that the NPP presented,” the veteran senator added.
González Colón said the decision to appoint another vice president later is because there are still some seats that are pending to be selected as there are still early ballot votes that need to be counted. She said that “all” women are being considered to occupy the position of vice president alongside Ríos Santiago.
Along with Matías Rosario as majority leader, San Juan Sen. Juan Oscar Morales, will serve as alternate spokesman in the new Senate, González Colón said.
Ríos Santiago said the last time the NPP had a Senate majority, it broke records for the most measures approved in the first 60 days.
Matías Rosario asserted that the new Legislature “will legislate for everyone because in this Legislature, there are people from all sectors of our island.”
Morales, who will serve as alternate spokesman, said the new Senate was going to “make a difference starting in the first 100 days.”
“The appointments will not be in a drawer as they were this four-year term,” he said. “They are going to be worked on immediately.”
Rivera Schatz said the moral balance of appointees to the Supreme Court and Office of the Women’s Advocate will be taken into consideration.
Elected Sen. Roxanna Soto Aguilú had said she would not vote for Rivera Schatz to preside over the Senate because she aspired to the position.
“The governor and the new president of the Senate have indicated that the president has already been elected. The answer was no if the question was directed at whether I changed my mind,” she said. “The new president knew it as well as the rest of my colleagues. But democracy was what prevailed.”
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