On Friday, Rep. Luis Gutiérrez (D-IL) sent the following letter to Speaker of the House Paul Ryan and Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, formally asking that a bipartisan Congressional delegation visit Puerto Rico to witness firsthand the devastating destruction caused by Hurricane María.
“This was no average storm,” Rep. Gutiérrez said in a media release that accompanied the letter. “It was a powerful direct hit that struck Puerto Rico when it was already down because of the economic situation, financial crisis, limited autonomy because of the federal takeover, and a barely adequate public health, power, and public services infrastructure. What little Puerto Rico had before María was literally blown away and in order to understand the scope of the damage and the magnitude of the recovery, Members of Congress need to see it with their own eyes.”
“You both know how close Puerto Rico is to my heart,” Gutiérrez said in his letter to Ryan and Pelosi “We must respond swiftly and generously to help our fellow Americans. I thank you in advance for your efforts and I look forward to working with you both to help pull together a bipartisan delegation together to visit the people of Puerto Rico and muster support in their hour of great need.”
