JUDY WOODRUFF: One aspect of
this tax bill that hasn't gotten
as much attention, a couple

of provisions that may hit
the economy of Puerto Rico,
even as the island struggles

to recover fully
from Hurricane Maria.

Jeffrey Brown zeros
in on those issues.

JEFFREY BROWN: That's because
the bill treats Puerto Rico in
some ways as a foreign entity,

not a territory of the U.S.
Specifically, it includes a
higher tax rate on corporate

from intellectual property.

Local officials warn that
could drive out drugmakers
and other manufacturers.

It comes as a third of Puerto
Rico is still without power and
in a week when the government

announced it will review all
deaths in the aftermath of the
hurricane, that after several

independent investigations
found the number of deaths was
much higher than officially

reported.

Carlos Mercader is a
representative on the mainland
for governor Ricardo Rossello.

He joins me now.

Welcome to you.

CARLOS MERCADER, Spokesman for
Puerto Rico Governor: Thank you.

JEFFREY BROWN: So,
start with the tax bill.

Why do you think it
would be such a blow?

What are implications?

CARLOS MERCADER: Yes, Puerto
Rico, it's a U.S. jurisdiction.

And we were asking Congress
to treat Puerto Rico under
the current tax bill as a U.S.

jurisdiction.

The fact is that, basically,
they are penalizing
Puerto Rico with the taxes
that they are imposing

on foreign corporations
or foreign territories.

What we were saying is
that every job in Puerto
Rico is a U.S. job.

It's an American job.

And if the tax bill wanted to
protect American jobs, they
would have had included Puerto

Rico as a U.S. jurisdiction,
and they wouldn't be penalizing
those jobs in the island with

the taxes that they just passed.

JEFFREY BROWN: So far, we
haven't seen any companies
threaten to leave.

CARLOS MERCADER: Well, everyone
is saying that they are
going to be looking at how is

the implementation of this tax
bill, and, obviously, remember,
we're going to be competing

against foreign jurisdictions.

We're not competing
within the U.S.

We're competing against
other foreign countries
which basically don't
have the same set of

rules, the seam set of laws,
the same set of regulations
that Puerto Rico has.

JEFFREY BROWN: But have any
companies told you quietly
that they will leave?

They may change -- yes?

CARLOS MERCADER: They
mentioned that they're
analyzing their situation.

JEFFREY BROWN: Separately, there
is this disaster aid idea going
through Congress right now,

a lot of money for all the
recent disasters, with some of
it earmarked for Puerto Rico,

but not nearly as much
as you have asked for.

CARLOS MERCADER: No.

Well, yes.

And while we appreciate that
Congress right now, it has
basically raised the amount of

moneys that are going to be
included in that aid package,
we're still saying that we need

to tackle the Medicaid
cliff that we're facing.

Basically, it's that
Puerto Rico, after February
of 2018, will have no
federal money to run

its Medicaid program.

And we need to basically find
the moneys in this supplemental
aid package to cover that

cliff that we are going
to be facing in February.

JEFFREY BROWN: But those
were the kind of problems
that were pre-hurricane.

Right?

CARLOS MERCADER: Yes,
but obviously those
are heightened by the
situation of the hurricane.

And what we're asking is the
same thing that happened in
New Orleans after Katrina, in

which the federal government
covered for 24 months the
federal and the state share on

the Medicaid front.

JEFFREY BROWN: Let me move
to the question of the death
count, because that just came

up this week.

The governor, your governor
acknowledged this week that the
death toll may be higher than

it has been acknowledged so far.

This was after he kind of stuck
to that number for a long time.

What has changed, and why
did the government stick
to the number for so long?

CARLOS MERCADER: Well,
the government basically
has a process of
analyzing, and very fine,

that all of the deaths that
happened after a storm directly
are indirectly related to

the storm.

So, in a process of seeking
transparency, what he has
basically asked is that -- one

thing, that they investigate
each and every death that
occurred after the storm.

And then he commissioned an
expert panel, so that they
go back and see that process

that the government had when
the storm happened to make sure
that that's the best process

to really identify the real
cause of death of a person
that died after the storm.

And this is very important.

Life, it's much more
important than numbers.

So, here, every death that
happened after the storm needs
to have the real information,

what really happened.

JEFFREY BROWN: But,
very briefly, I mean,
those numbers could be
off by hundreds, right?

Will be there -- do you
have the efficiency, the
funding for a real count now?

CARLOS MERCADER: Yes, yes.

And, actually, the process
has always been open, meaning
that the governor has always

recognized that, since this
was such a big catastrophe,
obviously, the number of deaths

could be high, and higher
than the number that we have.

The thing is that, with the
numbers that are out there right
now, that's why he has asked

for each and every death to be
investigated - - re-investigated
again, calling in doctors,

and just making sure that
really the cause of death was
really a natural cause of death

or related to the storm, and
then, obviously, calling in
these experts, so that they can

chip into that
government process.

JEFFREY BROWN: All right, Carlos
Mercader, thank you very much.

CARLOS MERCADER: Thank you.