Pelosi Remarks at Press Conference Calling for Immediate Action on Puerto Rico, U.S. Virgin Islands

September 28, 2017

Washington, D.C. – House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi, Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer, Congresswoman Nydia M. Velázquez, Congressional Hispanic Caucus Chair Michelle Lujan Grisham and other House Democrats to call for swift legislative action to assist Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands following Hurricane Maria. Below are the Leader's remarks:

Leader Pelosi. Thank you very much, Congresswoman [Nydia] Velázquez for bringing us together this morning. Thank you for your ongoing commitment to the people of our entire country and that includes Puerto Rico.

Thank you for sharing the grief of your family. You were born and raised there and came to [the mainland] to be a historic figure here, one of the few women in Congressional history to chair a full committee of the Congress of the United States.

You share that proud heritage with [Congressman] Luis Gutiérrez, whose family is from Puerto Rico, as well as from [Congressman] José Serrano and [Congressman] Mr. [Darren] Soto, he's half Italian. But nonetheless, they are serious messengers to us on the challenges facing the people of Puerto Rico now.

We can't make them whole right this minute, but we can give them hope immediately and that is what we must do. We want the people of Puerto Rico to know that their plight challenges the conscience of our country, challenges our conscience, and we must meet that challenge. So that would take the form, that would take the form of doctors, helicopters, heavy trucks, water, food, generators, temporary housing, medical supplies, that were needed yesterday. We must move more quickly.

To the people in the Virgin Islands, we share your concerns equally, and again, we want to give you hope as we try to make you whole. Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands need resources, they need our focus, and they need the full commitment of this Congress and this Administration now and into the future.

As sad as the situation is, it does provide an opportunity for the islands to redo their grids so that they will be leaders into the future of how people receive their electricity, their communication and the rest.

Right now we have some challenges in infrastructure there, helicopters can leapfrog over that, but as we rebuild in both places, to do so with leading the way into the future – this is a national emergency. Millions of our fellow Americans are in peril and we have to join with them.

We're calling on our colleagues, Democrats and Republicans alike, to move quickly. Time, the most valuable commodity of all, which makes the biggest difference in how people can be – needs can be addressed in the relief effort, time is very important.

So we want everything to move faster. To the extent that means acts of Congress, we have to move quickly as well. But my college roommate, Sonia Zapata, I haven't been able to hear from her, just anecdotal, but indicative of what everyone is going through, when trying to reach loved ones there.

It is, again, a challenge to our conscience that we will meet. These are all God's children. If we are people of faith, as we profess to be, we have to know and honor our responsibility to meeting the needs of all God's children.

With that I'm pleased to yield to our distinguished whip, Mr. [Steny] Hoyer.