Blumenthal Statement Following Senate Procedural Vote on Emergency Aid Package for Puerto Rico

[WASHINGTON, DC] – U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) issued the following statement today following a Senate vote to advance a $36.5 billion disaster relief package that includes funding for hurricane recovery efforts in Puerto Rico more than a month after Hurricane Maria ravaged the island. The Senate reached cloture by a vote of 79-16. The measure is expected to come to a final vote later this week.

“The Administration’s response to the devastation Hurricane Maria wrought in Puerto Rico has been flawed and failing—too little, too late. It deserves a grade of 10-- out of 100. Although I voted in favor of advancing another short term relief package, I will also be working on a longer, larger measure that makes a real investment in Puerto Rico’s future. Puerto Rico needs more than a miserly funding measure - it requires a long-term ‘Marshall Plan’ executed by a relief czar, empowered to rebuild the island’s infrastructure,” said Blumenthal.

Blumenthal met this morning with leaders of the Connecticut Puerto Rican community to discuss the Administration’s failing response and the island’s long-term recovery needs. He traveled to Puerto Rico on October 7 as part of a bipartisan congressional delegation to survey the damage of Hurricane Maria.