WASHINGTON, DC --The Power 4 Puerto Rico coalition issued the following statement after Brock Long, Administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), announced he would step down from his position as the head of the agency.
“After the devastating mismanagement of disaster recovery efforts across Puerto Rico, a mere resignation leaves us wanting. As we have demanded from the beginning, Congress must hold every department and individual accountable for the lives lost, the funds misspent and the promises broken in response to one of the worst natural disaster in U.S. history.
“FEMA's response to Hurricane Maria was a failure under the watch of Brock Long and President Donald Trump. We continue to support the creation of an investigative commission as proposed by Representative Nydia Velázquez to learn the full truth of what went wrong in the government’s response. We also support calls for FEMA to make critical improvements, not minimal repairs, to Puerto Rico’s infrastructure, as Congress unambiguously instructed FEMA to do in the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018.
“Finally, Congress must ensure that disaster aid already designated for Puerto Rico’s recovery be distributed without delay and not diverted toward any other unrelated purpose. We cannot allow any vacuum left by Mr. Long’s departure to result in further delays. It is their duty to help alleviate some of the pain from this ongoing humanitarian crisis. We need action now.”
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Power 4 Puerto Rico is a national coalition of leaders and organizations that uses advocacy, direct mobilization and digital activism to pressure for legislative changes and administrative action in support of Puerto Rico and its thousands of displaced families.