On the recordSeptember 28, 2017
I offer this motion to recommit on behalf of Ms. Velazquez. This is the final amendment to the bill, which will not kill the bill or send it back to committee. If adopted, the bill will immediately proceed to final passage, as amended. It is unfortunate that we are here today debating inadequate policies while our fellow Americans in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands are hurting. While I do not doubt the underlying bill was made with good intentions, it is not just inadequate for all the victims of the hurricanes, and it is insulting to the people of Puerto Rico. They are hurting. They have no food, no water, no power. They need our help. Estimates suggest the storm caused $40 billion to $85 billion in insurance claims throughout the Caribbean, with 85 percent of those losses in Puerto Rico. Nearly all of the island is without power, and 85 percent of cell towers were knocked out. The hurricane ravaged 80 percent of the crop value in Puerto Rico--a $780 million loss. This will result in higher food prices at a time when Puerto Rico faces shortages. These are only the initial estimates. Each day we learn more about the scale of devastation, and likely won't know the measure of damage for some time. FEMA has indicated that it has ``provided more than 1.5 million meals, 1.1 million liters of water, nearly 300 infant and toddler kits, and nearly 12,000 emergency roofing kits to the U.S.…
