[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 166 (Monday, October 16, 2017)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6388-S6390]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                      Puerto Rico Recovery Effort

  Mr. NELSON. Madam President, I want to talk about a matter of life 
and death. It is happening, as we speak, in Puerto Rico. I went there 
yesterday. I didn't want to have a flyover of the island, but at the 
invitation of Governor Rossello, I got into a helicopter so that I 
could get up into the mountains and into the areas that have been 
closed because people hadn't been able to get there on the roads. That 
is what I wanted to see.
  We have had colleagues come back and, because of a flyover in a 
helicopter, say that they say don't see a lot of damage. Of course not, 
because they are flying over parts of towns in which most of the 
structures are concrete blocks. But if you get down there on the ground 
and go into the structure, then you will see a different story.
  First of all, you will smell a different story because the water has 
accumulated, and now it is turning to mold and mildew--inhabitable 
conditions. But when you get up into the mountains, you see the places 
that were cut off. Not until a week ago did they have the roads cleared 
so that people could get up there. And as we speak, as of yesterday, 
they are still reconstructing the roads so that people can get on these 
narrow, winding, little dirt roads that go up through the mountains. So 
for 2 and a half weeks, communities have been completely cut off, like 
the one that I saw yesterday, Utuado, which is way up in the mountains.
  I want to show you some pictures, but I want you to realize that 
today is Monday. Next Wednesday will be 4 weeks since the hurricane 
hit. Can you imagine going into a State with 3.5 million people and 85 
percent of the people do not have electricity? And by the way, these 
are our fellow American citizens; they are just in a territory. Can you 
imagine going into a State where a month after the hurricane, 50

[[Page S6389]]

percent of the people do not have potable water? It is an absolute 
outrage. And I don't think the American people realize what is 
happening.
  Let me be your eyes by what I saw yesterday. This is a river bottom 
in the little town of Utuado. This side of the river is cut off from 
this side of the river because the one bridge washed out. If you look 
at this structure, the question is, How long is this going to last? It 
is tilting to the left. Any major rush of water is going to take out 
this section.
  I want you to see how creative these people are. It is hard to see at 
this distance, but they erected a cable system going over to the other 
side. They took the basket of a grocery cart, took the wheels and 
handles off, and this is on a pulley, and these guys are pulling it 
over here and then they pull it back. This is how people on this side 
of the river are getting food and water and medicine if they can't walk 
across. This is how people are surviving. If this section of the bridge 
goes--and it is just a matter of time--they are going to try to hook up 
a cable over here at the top of this riverbank over to the top of this 
riverbank and do the same kind of pulley.
  Here in the States, on the mainland, if something like this happened, 
the Corps of Engineers would be there. We would be rebuilding. The 
Department of Transportation would be rebuilding that bridge. These are 
our fellow American citizens, and they are going without.
  Let me show you another picture. This is the bank of another river. 
Let me show you the result. This is what happened. You see this whole 
house right behind here. I will show you the church in a minute. I 
asked the pastor: Did the people survive? He said that one was trapped 
in the house. They were able to get that person out. The others had 
already fled. But you can see that with the force of the extra rain and 
the water coming down, houses like that are history.
  Here is that same section of the river with the church in the 
background. The church survived. I talked to the pastor of the church. 
Here I am having a conversation with the people who live on this side. 
I asked the pastor whether he lost any parishioners. He did not. On the 
side of his church, he has a dish, and because he has a generator, he 
is the only person in this town who has any kind of communication--in 
this case, through the satellite dish for television. Everything else 
is being run on generators because there is no electricity. As you 
know, these generators are not powerful enough to run air-conditioners; 
therefore, the water accumulates. Mold and mildew start to accumulate, 
with all the health effects as a result of that.
  Does this look like something we would have in this country, or does 
this look like a third world country? Do the images in these 
photographs bring to mind other Caribbean nations that we have seen 
that have been devastated by earthquakes and hurricanes? Think about 
what happened to Haiti.
  When people go to San Juan--by the way, 85 percent of San Juan is 
without power. You see these little pockets, and of course they are 
trying to get the generators going in the hospitals for obvious 
reasons. They need the generators to go to stations where people are 
getting their dialysis treatments. That is obvious. But what about the 
wear and tear on the generators and the replacements?
  The Governor of Puerto Rico, Governor Rossello, has a very ambitious 
schedule: He wants to restore 95 percent of power by the middle of 
December. I hope the Governor is right. It has been turned over to the 
Army Corps of Engineers to get the electrical grid and structures up 
and running. I am afraid it is going to be a lot longer. I asked for 
estimates on the immediate needs, especially rebuilding the grid. He 
said $4 billion. Are we going to be able to get that for them?
  What are going to be the ultimate needs of Puerto Rico? We just heard 
the Senator from Texas talk about his State and the estimates that you 
heard out of Texas being as much as $100 billion. What about the needs 
of Puerto Rico? What about the needs of Florida? What about the needs 
of the Virgin Islands?
  We have a supplemental coming up, but is that going to take care of 
the needs of all of those four areas that have been hit hard? If Texas 
is $100 billion, a long-term fix for Puerto Rico may well be $80 
billion to $90 billion. And who knows what it is going to be for 
Florida and the Virgin Islands. Therefore, are we in this Congress, 
with or without the leadership of the White House, going to have the 
stomach to help our fellow American citizens? I am sure we are going to 
help Texas, and I certainly hope we will help my State of Florida, but 
are we willing to help the American citizens in the Virgin Islands and 
Puerto Rico? It is not a rosy picture, but we hear some Members of 
Congress come back and say they didn't see a lot of damage. It is 
people using a pulley they have jerry-rigged across a river to survive 
with daily supplies of food and fuel and water. You can't see that from 
the air. If you have no power, you have no water, and you have no sewer 
systems, then, what you have is chaos.

  It has been a month since Hurricane Maria hit Puerto Rico. The 
hospitals are rationing services while they struggle to get the 
medicines and the fuel they need to power the generators. The dialysis 
centers are struggling to get the water and fuel they need to operate.
  Like many, I have written, in this case, to the U.S. Department of 
Health and Human Services, to urge the Department to do more to help 
these dialysis centers obtain the supplies they need.
  I wanted to come to the floor of the Senate, having gotten back very 
late last night from Puerto Rico, and tell the Senate that more needs 
to be done, and it is going to have to be done for a very long period 
of time. We have to do more to ensure that the supplies that are 
reaching the island are getting to those who need them.
  Remember, things got piled up in the ports in the first week, and 
they didn't get out to be distributed. Senator Rubio and I were saying 
at the time that it is going to take the U.S. military, which is 
uniquely organized and capable of distribution of long logistical 
lines. It wasn't until a week after the hurricane that three-star 
General Buchanan was put in charge. I met with him and the head of FEMA 
down in the Puerto Rico area. Finally, those supplies are getting out. 
These are supplies for survival.
  We need to pass a disaster relief package that fully funds Puerto 
Rico's recovery. We need to provide Puerto Rico with the community 
development block grant money that Governor Rossello has requested, 
just like we need the CDBGs for Texas and Florida and the Virgin 
Islands as well. We need to make Puerto Rico eligible for permanent 
work assistance so they can start to rebuild their infrastructure 
immediately.
  I want to make something fairly clear. There should be absolutely no 
ambiguity about what is going on in Puerto Rico. It isn't rosy. It 
isn't that you can sit in a comfortable seat in a helicopter looking 
down from 1,500 or 2,000 feet on structures that look like they are 
intact, when, in fact, the reality on the ground below is completely 
different. Certainly, they didn't go up there and see all those bridges 
washed out in the mountains. They didn't see people scrambling for 
food. They didn't see the Puerto Rican National Guard rebuilding that 
little narrow dirt road winding along the banks of that river. They 
didn't see or walk into the buildings where you would almost be 
overwhelmed with the smells--the smells, particularly, of mold and 
mildew.
  People have died as a result of this hurricane. People have died 
because of the lack of supplies and power. Our fellow Americans are 
dying, and they desperately need our help.
  Ladies and gentlemen of the Senate, I have seen it with my own eyes 
on the ground, and I am here to urge this Congress and the 
administration that we have to act and act for a very long period of 
time.
  Our citizens in Puerto Rico need our help. We have the responsibility 
to help fellow citizens in need.
  Madam President, I yield the floor.
  Mr. SHELBY. Madam President, I ask for the yeas and nays.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there a sufficient second?
  There appears to be a sufficient second.
  The yeas and nays were ordered.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. All time has expired.

[[Page S6390]]

  The question is, Will the Senate advise and consent to the Gingrich 
nomination?
  The yeas and nays have been previously ordered.
  The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk called the roll.
  Mr. CORNYN. The following Senators are necessarily absent: the 
Senator from Mississippi (Mr. Cochran), the Senator from South Carolina 
(Mr. Graham), the Senator from Georgia (Mr. Isakson), the Senator from 
Arizona (Mr. McCain), the Senator from Kansas (Mr. Moran), and the 
Senator from Ohio (Mr. Portman).
  Mr. DURBIN. I announce that the Senator from New Jersey (Mr. 
Menendez) is necessarily absent.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Lankford). Are there any other Senators in 
the Chamber desiring to vote?
  The result was announced--yeas 70, nays 23, as follows:

                      [Rollcall Vote No. 217 Ex.]

                                YEAS--70

     Alexander
     Baldwin
     Barrasso
     Bennet
     Blunt
     Boozman
     Burr
     Cantwell
     Capito
     Cardin
     Carper
     Casey
     Cassidy
     Collins
     Coons
     Corker
     Cornyn
     Cortez Masto
     Cotton
     Crapo
     Cruz
     Daines
     Donnelly
     Enzi
     Ernst
     Feinstein
     Fischer
     Flake
     Franken
     Gardner
     Grassley
     Hatch
     Heitkamp
     Heller
     Hoeven
     Inhofe
     Johnson
     Kaine
     Kennedy
     King
     Klobuchar
     Lankford
     Lee
     Manchin
     McCaskill
     McConnell
     Murkowski
     Murphy
     Murray
     Paul
     Perdue
     Reed
     Risch
     Roberts
     Rounds
     Rubio
     Sasse
     Schumer
     Scott
     Shaheen
     Shelby
     Strange
     Sullivan
     Thune
     Tillis
     Toomey
     Warner
     Whitehouse
     Wicker
     Young

                                NAYS--23

     Blumenthal
     Booker
     Brown
     Duckworth
     Durbin
     Gillibrand
     Harris
     Hassan
     Heinrich
     Hirono
     Leahy
     Markey
     Merkley
     Nelson
     Peters
     Sanders
     Schatz
     Stabenow
     Tester
     Udall
     Van Hollen
     Warren
     Wyden

                             NOT VOTING--7

     Cochran
     Graham
     Isakson
     McCain
     Menendez
     Moran
     Portman
  The nomination was confirmed.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Wyoming.
  Mr. BARRASSO. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that with 
respect to the Gingrich nomination, the motion to consider be 
considered made and laid upon the table and the President be 
immediately notified of the Senate's action.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection?
  Without objection, it is so ordered.

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