[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 163 (2017), Part 10]
[Senate]
[Pages 14721-14722]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                     HURRICANE AND WILDFIRE RELIEF

  Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, Puerto Rico and the nearby U.S. Virgin 
Islands have been buffeted by not one but two successive hurricanes, 
including a direct hit by the powerful Hurricane Maria. Many citizens 
have had their homes and businesses destroyed, tens of thousands--
hundreds of thousands--are living without electricity, husbanding gas 
and food and water and their remaining cash. The situation is 
desperate. Puerto Rico has taken a serious punch to the gut. They need 
our help, and they need it now.
  These are our fellow Americans--3.5 million of them. It is our duty 
in the Senate to speedily send aid to the people of Puerto Rico and to 
the U.S. Virgin Islands, just as we did for the people of Texas and 
Louisiana who were hit by Hurricane Harvey and the people of my own 
State when we suffered from Hurricane Sandy, as we will do for the 
people of Florida who were hit by Hurricane Irma.
  So let's all work together to help the island of Puerto Rico rebuild 
and recover, just as we would anywhere else in America.
  At the same time, we must bear in mind that much of the western part 
of our country is besieged by wildfires. The Senators from Oregon have 
come to the floor to remind us of our duty to help those parts of the 
country also.
  The administration must quickly prepare an appropriate aid package 
for Florida, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and the Western 
States for Congress to act on in the near future. We Democrats will 
insist that any

[[Page 14722]]

package of supplemental aid for Hurricanes Harvey and Irma also include 
aid for Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and the Western States 
ravaged by forest fires. We owe it to every State and community 
impacted by these devastating hurricanes and these horrible firestorms.
  One beautiful thing about this country is, although we are 50 States 
with different ideas and politics and accents, we are also one Nation, 
bound together, and we will come to the aid of any individual State or 
territory whenever one of them is in need.

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