TRENTON – Senator Nilsa Cruz-Perez issued the following statement today urging Congress to act immediately to provide relief to Puerto Rico in the wake of Hurricane Maria:
“I ask the New Jersey Congressional Delegation to use every tool at their disposal to expedite aid to the island of Puerto Rico to alleviate the suffering and despair that our Puerto Rican brothers and sisters are living with right now. Puerto Ricans are entitled to the same response from the federal government as the citizens of New Jersey, New York or Kansas would be if they were affected by a natural disaster on the scale of Hurricane Maria.
“The President and Congress must act quickly and decisively to avoid an even greater humanitarian disaster in Puerto Rico. The impact of Hurricane Maria is beyond anything this country has ever seen. We are a great nation and there is nothing we cannot accomplish together, but we must begin this effort in earnest immediately. We need to focus as a community, state and nation on rebuilding Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. Their residents are not only our fellow citizens, but to many of us, they are family.”