Connecticut U.S. Senators Richard Blumenthal and Chris Murphy say the $81 billion in disaster relief funds being considered for Florida, Texas, California, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands is not enough.
Blumenthal says Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands alone need double that amount.
Speaking on the phone from Puerto Rico where he’s on a two-day visit with Murphy, Blumenthal said, “The Sanders bill, which I introduced with him, will provide for $194 billion to both Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.”
Murphy says they found that even money that has been allocated to Puerto Rico is not getting there.
“Funds that we authorized in Congress months ago still have not been disbursed here. So we’re gonna come back from this trip energized to make sure a disaster supplemental passes as quickly as possible, and the money that’s already been authorized by Congress gets here to the ground as quickly as possible.”
Murphy says this state of affairs would be unacceptable on the U.S. mainland.
