Puerto Rico Needs Our Help

WASHINGTON, Sept. 29 -- Rep. Chris Smith, R-N.J., issued the following news release:

U.S. Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ), Chairman of the House panel on global human rights, joined his colleagues in sending a bipartisan letter to President Trump calling for increased federal aid to Puerto Rico.

"The people of Puerto Rico are suffering from the catastrophic impact of Hurricane Maria and need comprehensive humanitarian aid and federal support. In addition to food, water and medical assistance, communication system restoration and infrastructure rebuilding are critical parts of the emergency response," said Smith. "Through FEMA, we have agencies within our government designed to handle these tasks--and back-up agencies in place in the event FEMA cannot fulfill these tasks. We must take action to ensure these agencies are able to deploy the assets at their disposal without any more red tape," he said.

See text of letter, led by Rep. Jose E. Serrano (D-NY) and Del. Jenniffer Gonzalez-Colon (R-PR), here. (https://chrissmith.house.gov/UploadedFiles/Puerto_Rico_Letter_to_President.pdf)

Puerto Rico, a U.S. territory with a population of close to 3.5 million, was ravaged by Hurricane Maria 10 days ago. Due to the destruction of the Category 4 storm, millions remain without access to electricity, food or water. As of Friday morning, there have been 16 deaths directly related to the storm, and without action, this number is expected to increase.

In response to the devastation, President Trump waived the Jones Act, a law dating from the 1920s that requires all ships that go from one American port to another to be American ships. Even as the waiver has provided additional aid to the ports of Puerto Rico, distributing supplies on the island has been a challenge due to the damaged infrastructure.

"The waiving of the Jones Act has provided the opportunity to get aid to the people of Puerto Rico," said Smith. "However, 10 days is not enough. As we have seen in past hurricanes, and in particular Superstorm Sandy, the rebuilding process can take months or years before individuals can see a semblance of normal life. Puerto Rico needs more than 10 days and the waiver should be extended."