[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 163 (2017), Part 11]
[House]
[Pages 15776-15777]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                       ASSISTANCE FOR PUERTO RICO

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Illinois (Mr. Gutierrez) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. GUTIERREZ. Mr. Speaker, it has been 3 weeks since the eye of 
Hurricane Maria crossed over Puerto Rico. It has been 3 weeks, and 
there are still parts of the island that have not had contact with FEMA 
yet--3 weeks. For most people, that has meant no power, and most still 
don't have running water.
  Hospitals and clinics were hit hard, as The New York Times reports. 
The daughter of one man who died because he couldn't receive oxygen 
treatment told the paper: ``Because of the electricity situation, a lot 
of people died and are still dying.''
  Forty percent of the island still lacks running water because of the 
blackout, which still affects 85 percent of the island. As a result, 
many people are bathing in streams and receiving water from huge tanks, 
which is never a good idea.
  This is after 3 weeks in the most powerful nation on Earth. This is 
unacceptable.
  Our response to Hurricane Maria and the people of Puerto Rico is a 
national and international embarrassment and a tragedy. They are our 
own citizens in our own Caribbean colonies of Puerto Rico and the 
Virgin Islands, and we have not helped them all that we can.
  I spoke to Chicago firefighters yesterday who have been in Puerto 
Rico for about a week, and they tell me it is worse than we are being 
told.

                              {time}  1015

  They told me yesterday that they are still making contact in towns 
where people come up to them and say, ``Thank God, it is FEMA; you are 
finally here,'' only to be told, ``No, we are not FEMA; we are from 
Chicago; we are firefighters,'' and they embrace and cry with 
gratitude.
  Last week, a group of my colleagues and I got together. We represent 
large Puerto Rican communities here on the mainland in Connecticut, New 
York, Massachusetts, Illinois, Ohio, and Florida. All of us have been 
contacted by

[[Page 15777]]

our constituents who are in desperate need to get their loved ones back 
and out of Puerto Rico.
  After 3 weeks, they have run out of patience and are not interested 
in excuses in our congressional district. They want their parents, they 
want their Tia with cancer, and they want their cousins on dialysis off 
the island, period, now. They want a plane ticket to get the hell out.
  Our communities are ready. Lorain, Ohio; Hartford; Boston; Orlando; 
New York; Chicago; we are all ready, but the problem is transportation. 
If you have money, connections, or internet access, then you probably 
can find a flight out.
  I know this because I was in Puerto Rico 2 weeks ago, and I saw the 
Land Rovers, the Jaguars, parked at the private airports in San Juan, 
because if you have the money, you have already put your loved ones on 
a flight out of Dodge.
  The individuals from FEMA have been doing a great job, given the 
constraints, but I think now FEMA and the military resources should 
focus on the task of evacuating the elderly, the sick, and the 
vulnerable from the island.
  Look, this is the way FEMA works. They say: Well, we only take on 
tasks that the Governor asks us to take on, and the Governor is not 
likely to go to FEMA to ask them to get thousands and thousands of his 
constituents off the island.
  Number one, it is a difficult request for any local official to make. 
Captains of industry and leaders on the island want to make sure that 
there are Puerto Rican workers there to rebuild, and of course, to 
continue to buy their products. I get that. But at the same time, those 
same captains of industry and political leaders, guess what, I bet you 
most of them have already got their loved ones off the island.
  Number two, we know the Governor has to be extremely careful how he 
asks for anything because we all know the President doesn't take 
criticism very well or even a hint of criticism. The Governor doesn't 
want to get blackballed by the President who might go off on a Twitter 
rant at any moment unless he is praised and stroked every step of the 
way.
  But our Puerto Rican constituents don't vote for the Governor of 
Puerto Rico. They vote for us, for DeLauro, for Crowley, for McGovern, 
for Espaillat, for Marcy Kaptur, and they want us to help them get 
their families out of danger's way. They are demanding help getting 
their family members out, and I think FEMA and the U.S. military can do 
the job. They just need the orders from the people in charge.
  Let's be clear: if anyone wants to leave Puerto Rico, they should 
have our help in doing so. For thousands, it is a question of life and 
death and survival. That is what is needed to help Puerto Rico. We 
don't need the President tossing paper towels to storm victims like he 
was tossing a ball to a dog or maybe tossing peanuts to squirrels in 
the park. We need airplanes, ships, and helicopters to get the people 
the hell out; otherwise, it will be worse than let them eat cake; it is 
let them die.

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