Washington, D.C. — Today, the U.S. House of Representatives approved a measure providing $17.2 billion in relief and recovery assistance for areas affected by natural disasters, including areas in Puerto Rico damaged by the hurricane in 2017. This funding includes $600 million for hundreds of thousands of low-income Puerto Rican families who are still struggling to get nutritional assistance after Hurricane Maria ravaged the island. In response, Enrique Fernández-Toledo, director of the Puerto Rico Relief and Economic Policy Initiative at the Center for American Progress, issued the following statement:
The need to act and provide urgently needed disaster assistance to all—especially Puerto Rico—is long overdue. U.S. Senate lawmakers should quickly follow suit to pass a similar measure that addresses the disaster needs of countless communities across the United States and Puerto Rico. Conservatives in the Senate need to stop letting the president use the politics of division to pit the needs of some communities against those of others.
For more information on this topic or to talk to an expert, please contact Sam Hananel at [email protected] or 202.478.6327.