FEMA rescinds cutoff of aid to Puerto Rico
After a flurry of bipartisan complaints from Florida members of Congress and others, the Federal Emergency Management Agency said its plan to end distributing food and water in Puerto Rico would not take effect Wednesday after all.
“Provision of those commodities will continue,” spokesman William Booher told National Public Radio.
A different FEMA spokesperson, Delyris Aquino-Santiago, had earlier told NPR that it would “officially shut off” its food and water mission on the island Wednesday and hand its remaining food and water supplies over to the Puerto Rican government to finish distributing.
But Booher said that date “was mistakenly provided.”
The agency has been working on that transition but has not made it final, he said, so in the meantime, FEMA would continue providing food and water to communities on the island that need them. The island is still recovering from the devastation of Hurricane Maria, which struck in September.
The turnabout came after politicians from both political parties reacted angrily to news of FEMA’s plan and after the Puerto Rican government released a statement saying it had not been informed of the change.
On Tuesday, lawmakers called on the agency to reconsider.
During a speech on the Senate floor, Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson of Florida said he was “absolutely shocked” by FEMA’s decision.
“Cutting this aid to the people of Puerto Rico, almost a third of them who still do not have electricity, it’s unconscionable, and it’s a travesty,’’ he said.
Nine members of the House from Florida, as well as Nelson and Republican Sen. Marco Rubio, joined other lawmakers to send a letter urging FEMA to keep distributing water and food to Puerto Rico.
“Families will continue to leave the island if their basic needs are not met — the most fundamental of which are food and water,” the letter stated. “We urge you to continue distributing food and water aid in Puerto Rico until the situation on the island has substantially improved.”
Lawmakers from Central Florida who signed the letter included Reps. Darren Soto, DKissimmee; Stephanie Murphy, D-Winter Park; and Dennis Ross, R-Lakeland.
In Washington on Tuesday, San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulin Cruz said many people in the U.S. territory need the water and food they have been getting from FEMA.
The mayor said that in recent days officials have had to deliver powered milk and water to some parts of the island, where about 35 percent of the population still has no power.
“There is need still,” she told reporters in Washington, where she was attending the State of the Union address as a guest of New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand.