[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 160 (Thursday, October 5, 2017)]
[Senate]
[Page S6329]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



          Puerto Rico and U.S. Virgin Islands Recovery Effort

  Mr. President, turning to the humanitarian crisis in Puerto Rico and 
the U.S. Virgin Islands, yesterday, once again, Congress received a 
request from the administration for a supplemental aid package that 
will go to help Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and other States 
hit by storms. It also includes some money for the Western States beset 
by wildfires.
  It is a good first step, but it is just the start of a long recovery 
and relief effort that will require additional aid from this Congress. 
While aid and resources are necessary now, these islands are just 
starting to assess the damage. Once they determine how devastating 
these storms actually were, we need to respond immediately to provide 
additional support and funds to assist their recovery and rebuilding, 
just as we have done for past storms and disasters. On this package, I 
have three points.
  First, I am urging my colleagues to add additional and vital flexible 
funding for recovery like the community development block grant. We 
gave CDBG to help Texas after Harvey. We can't deprive Puerto Rico and 
the Virgin Islands of this money.
  Second, I am warning my colleagues on the other side--particularly 
those in the House--not to attach any extraneous, ideological policy 
riders to this urgent aid package. Ideological policy changes to the 
Flood Insurance Program and forest management policies should come 
nowhere near this bill. They tried to do it last week in the FAA bill, 
and we had to send it back because of joint opposition, both sides of 
the aisle. Let's not go through that again. I thank our chairman of the 
Banking Committee for helping in that regard.
  Third, it has become clear that Puerto Rico's recovery will be 
further hindered by its ongoing debt crisis. That crisis, coupled with 
the devastation from Hurricane Maria, has led to growing concerns that 
the island will soon face a liquidity crisis. Simply put, the island is 
running out of money to pay for essential services like first 
responders, not to mention funds for rebuilding and recovery. The funds 
we hope to include in the disaster package are critical, but we have to 
make sure the island has enough cash to start the process. In FEMA, 
local governments often have to lay out the money first and then they 
get repaid, but Puerto Rico doesn't have the money to lay out so we 
have to deal with that issue to make it effective.
  With these issues in mind, we should act quickly on this supplemental 
aid, but it is just the beginning of Congress's aid to rebuild.