Gutierrez Responds to President on Puerto Rico Hurricane Deaths
Today in a speech on the House floor, Rep.
He said: "With 3,000 people dead, for the President to say that
Rep, Gutierrez went on to say: "What is offensive to many of us is that even though the President dropped the ball, he is now doing a victory dance in the end zone. Or should we call it the dead zone?"
The Congressman, who has traveled several times to the Island to provide relief and who plans to retire to
Disasters require preparedness and rapid response. But
He concluded his remarks by saying:
I pray that his [Trump's] response to the current disaster unfolding along the
A video of the Congressman's floor speech, delivered shortly after
Rep.
Floor Remarks
Before I respond to
First of all, everyone is praying for our friends and neighbors along the Eastern Seaboard who will be facing the wind and rain of Hurricane Florence today. I support them and the first responders who are helping and the people running shelters and delivering medicine to the sick and injured. And I fully support
Secondly, in the last few weeks, the official death toll of Hurricane Maria was raised to 3,000 based on the meticulous study of the George
The temptation is to fault
But let me also be very, very clear. With 3,000 people dead, for the President to say that
Only in the President's mind could he give himself an A-plus. Only in the President's mind could we go a year without an apology to the American people for his incompetence in managing a crisis where 3,000 people died. And now he denies that they are dead.
It takes a man of humility, honor, and compassion to admit when they have made a tremendous and deadly mistake in caring for the American people and we know we do not have a man in the
And this
Thursday will mark one year since the storm hit and think back a year ago. The popular and charismatic Mayor of San Juan,
Most of us knew at the time - and all of us know now a year after the storm - the Mayor was right and the President was wrong. Dead wrong.
Disasters require preparedness and rapid response. But
Yes, the massive power of the storm was compounded by decades of neglect from
But let's also be clear; it is his watch now. As President of
Yes, islands are surrounded by water -- deep water -- but
From the beginning, the President's focus was on damage control from a political standpoint - not damage control from a human life standpoint.
The sad truth is that in trying so hard to make sure that the hurricane did not become "Trump's Katrina," we lost far more lives.
This was disaster mismanagement and that lies at the feet of the President and his Administration. What is offensive to many of us is that even though the President dropped the ball, he is now doing a victory dance in the end zone. Or should we call it the dead zone?
I pray that his response to the current disaster unfolding along the
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