WASHINGTON — James Albino stepped down as executive director of the President's Task Force on Puerto Rico on Friday to take a post with the Department of Veterans Affairs, an administration spokesperson confirmed.
Albino is the VA Department's new deputy assistant secretary for intergovernmental affairs.
His departure is not expected to greatly affect how the task force operates or what it gets done, said a source knowledgeable about the group. The task force has not been very active. It has made some efforts to offer advice and procedural help to island officials and has several remaining chairs and staff members working on these issues, the source said.
The task force on Puerto Rico, which the Clinton administration established in 2000 and the Obama administration later expanded, is designed to coordinate different federal agencies' efforts and make recommendations on policies related to the island. It has played a role in the federal government's efforts to address Puerto Rico's recent fiscal issues stemming from the island's $72 billion debt that Gov. Alejandro Garcia Padilla has said cannot be paid without restructuring.
White House director of intergovernmental affairs Jerry Abramson and acting associate attorney general Stuart Delery both chair the committee. Deputy director of intergovernmental affairs Adrian Saenz and deputy associate attorney general Julie McEvoy are among its staff members. It is not clear whether the task force will name a new executive director, but the remaining staff will continue to manage the committee's daily affairs, the administration spokesperson said.
Pedro Pierluisi, Puerto Rico's nonvoting member of Congress, said Albino worked very closely with his office and that he wishes the former executive director well in his new post.
Periluisi said he has recently been in touch with McEvoy and Saenz and would like to see more action from the committee moving forward.
"The purpose of the task force is to coordinate the actions of different federal agencies with respect to Puerto Rico, so there is a thoughtful, carefully calibrated, whole-of-government approach to the territory," Pierluisi said. "I have been candid in my view that the task force needs to do more in this regard, especially in light of Puerto Rico's fiscal crisis."
A spokesperson with the VA Department confirmed Albino is now with the department and began working Monday.
