Blumenthal, Murphy Announce Travel to Puerto Rico

(Hartford, CT) – U.S. Senators Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) and Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) announced today they will travel to Puerto Rico on Tuesday, January 2 and Wednesday, January 3 to build firsthand evidence of the ongoing devastation as they fight to secure comprehensive aid to the island.

“This trip will shine a glaring light on Puerto Rico’s continuing humanitarian and economic crisis. We are building a compelling, fact-based case for expanded disaster relief—evidence of the need for both an immediate supplemental disaster relief package and the major rebuilding plan I have introduced with Senator Sanders,” Blumenthal said. “Since I last visited the island in October, the federal response has been shamefully inadequate. Across Connecticut, I have heard heartbreaking stories from families who have recently arrived and other families still on the island. We cannot allow this Administration to abandon fellow Americans and declare mission accomplished while half of Puerto Rico remains in the dark, clean drinking water is unavailable, and thousands of people are living in temporary shelters.”

“While the national media coverage of the disaster has long since waned, the situation in Puerto Rico remains dire," Murphy said. "But Connecticut has not forgotten. It's been one hundred days since Maria made landfall, and huge swaths of the island don't have power--a situation that would be unfathomable on the mainland. We have a lot more work to do. We will be meeting with local officials and seeing firsthand the work left to do. Congress and the administration have failed Puerto Ricans, and I won’t let Washington lose focus of the fact that Puerto Rico needs and deserves more help.”

Travel itinerary will include:

• Meeting with Ricardo Rossello, Governor of Puerto Rico
• Visit to Hospital UPR to discuss obstacles the hospital is facing in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria and local relief efforts they are coordinating. The hospital has received donated supplies from a coalition of Puerto Rican physicians in Connecticut.
• Visit Johnson & Johnson manufacturing facility in Las Piedras to hear how the hurricane has harmed the island economy.
• Tour of town of Las Piedras with Mayor Miguel Lopez to see ongoing humanitarian crisis.