[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 163 (2017), Part 11]
[House]
[Page 16332]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                     PUERTO RICAN HURRICANE VICTIMS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Illinois (Mr. Gutierrez) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. GUTIERREZ. Mr. Speaker, shortly after the President returned from 
his trip to Puerto Rico, I received a shipment in my office of paper 
towels. It didn't come with a note or an explanation, just 12 rolls of 
Viva. I guess there is a little irony maybe because it is in Spanish.
  Maybe after watching the President entertain himself by tossing paper 
towels at hurricane victims in Puerto Rico, some well-intentioned 
person thought that giving paper towels to Puerto Ricans was an 
appropriate sign of respect--the gift you give to Puerto Ricans after a 
major disaster trying to cheer us up, Viva.
  Having returned from my second trip to Puerto Rico since the 
hurricane, I can tell you one thing for sure: we need a lot more than 
paper towels from the President and this Congress.
  This is Loiza. I was visiting with the mayor. I want you to look at 
the pictures. This woman here, she has a disabled adult sleeping on a 
wet mattress. Yes, sleeping on a wet mattress. That is the home in 
which she takes care of her son. Four weeks after the hurricane, 
children hiding behind barricades, homes destroyed.
  This is Comerio where food, 4 weeks after the hurricane, because 
there is no food, has to be handed neighborhood to neighborhood, 
hilltop to hilltop, hamlet and village to village within the town.
  See this? People sleep there on that bed without tarps because 
somehow we forgot that in a hurricane-destroyed society it might have--
be a good idea to have something over your head. Of course, the 
President said he gave himself a 10. Tell that to the people who have 
lived there 4 weeks.
  I just came back from this trip on Saturday. I am now not surprised 
that the congressmen, my colleagues, are taking day trips to Puerto 
Rico. Yes, that is what we do as Members of Congress, we get there at 9 
o'clock during the Sun of the day, and we leave by 4 before the 
darkness comes because, of course, there is no electricity, and then 
they take us on a helicopter ride around the island. That is no way to 
visit.
  You get off the plane and off the helicopter and you stay overnight 
when it is pitch black because that is the way 3.4 million American 
citizens live 1 month after the hurricane. That is how they live. So I 
don't know, maybe congressmen should stop taking day trips where they 
get there at 9 and leave by 4. Spend the night, get out of your 
comfort, and go talk to the American citizens that you are supposed to 
be representing.
  America, see this? That is a horse stable, abandoned house where 
people live. I met a 13-year-old girl there with her mom and her 12-
year-old brother. That is where they live. See this mom and the two 
children? No roof over their heads. Just a little tarp to keep one part 
of their house and no place to sleep.
  See this man right here? He lives in this abandoned house in a little 
tent with a 2-month-old child and his wife, disabled in a wheelchair, 
and no electricity to run his air tank so that he can get the vital air 
that he needs to sustain his life.
  This is what I saw, and this was without the help of the Federal 
Government because, if you ask for help, they will put you on a 
helicopter and take you on a nice tour and you will not talk or see 
anybody.
  And I know there are some in America who say they should just do this 
for themselves. Well, guess what? They are citizens of the United 
States of America. They are a colony of the United States of America. 
And I would just ask America--there are over half a million people on 
that island who are homeless, whose homes have been destroyed, and our 
government--here is the one question people kept asking me no matter 
where I went, they said: Where is FEMA? Where is the help that we 
expect from the most powerful and richest Nation on the Earth in this 
moment of despair?
  And soon it will be out of the headlines, and soon it will be out of 
the rotation, and we will try to forget, but they will continue to 
suffer.
  I came back on a flight from Puerto Rico this past Saturday night 
filled with people fleeing, and I met this wonderful woman who said to 
me: I have my child here. I am dropping her with my sister so that she 
can be free.
  We would not allow this in Texas. We would not allow this in New 
Jersey. We would not allow this in Florida. We did not allow it even 
after a week in Katrina. Let's not allow it in Puerto Rico either.

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