Hoyer Discusses the Urgent Humanitarian Crisis in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands on CNN

WASHINGTON, DC - House Democratic Whip Steny H. Hoyer (MD) joined CNN today to discuss the need for the Administration to deploy additional resources to address the humanitarian crisis in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Below are excerpts from the interview and a link to the video:

Click here to watch a video of his remarks.

“[The Administration] sent down [a] $29 billion [supplemental], of which about half is debt forgiveness, which will give FEMA some additional head room, but the fact of the matter is we're going to need much more than that over the long term. But this tranche is a significant figure, and I expect more to come. Hopefully they will not be burdened down with politically controversial items that the Majority may want to put in these bills. I hope that's the case. This is a humanitarian crisis.”

“Within two weeks of Haiti’s earthquake, we had 22,000 military personnel on the ground. We need more people on the ground. We need more resources allocated. Frankly, the military is the one institution in our country and, indeed in the world, who can respond to deal with the crises that you have just displayed on your screen. And we need to be in the rural areas. So many are going to San Juan. San Juan has got resources and is getting up to speed but it is the rural areas, in which most of the Puerto Ricans live, that are in such crisis without sufficient water, without sufficient food, and without sufficient sanitation.”