Bill Nelson: “I have just returned from Puerto Rico. I went there at the invitation of Governor Rossello. I spent time with his…”

“I have just returned from Puerto Rico. I went there at the invitation of Governor Rossello. I spent time with his Secretary of Housing. I spent time with members of his executive staff. I went up into the mountains to a city named ``Las Piedras,'' a city of some 30,000 people. According to the mayor, who took me around and showed me a number of the residential neighborhoods, 30 percent of that city does not have electricity. It has been 8 months since the two hurricanes--first Maria and then Irma--hit the island of Puerto Rico, our fellow U.S. citizens. There are still major parts of the island that do not have electricity. In this town of 30,000 people, you go to different locations, and in one particular location farther up in the mountains, there is no electricity. I asked the residents: How are you coping? What do you do? They had a generator, but because of the shortage of fuel and the cost of fuel, they can't run the generator all the time. Basically, they use it for necessities, such as cooking and other chores during the day. Therefore, they have no refrigeration. I asked: What do you do? They showed me. A fellow had just come from the grocery store down the mountain. Every day, they have to go get their groceries that are perishable and cook them and consume them that day because they do not have refrigeration. This is 8 months after the hurricane. Can you imagine that happening in any of our States on the mainland?…”