More than a half-dozen U.S. Senators called on leaders of the Senate’s Energy and Natural Resources Committee Wednesday to investigate Puerto Rico’s ongoing power outages and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ decision to begin reducing the number of utility repair workers on the island.
This, while thousands of residents reportedly still do not have power.
The request for an oversight hearing on the Corps’ actions was made in a letter led by U.S. Senators Bill Nelson and Marco Rubio of Florida, and sent to the Chairman and Ranking Member of the Senate’s Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, Senators Lisa Murkowski and Maria Cantwell, respectively.
In addition to Nelson and Rubio, the letter was signed by Senators Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, Tom Carper of Delaware, Bob Casey of Pennsylvania, Dick Durbin of Illinois, and Bernie Sanders of Vermont.
Nelson has a reputation as an outspoken member of the Senate in pushing the federal government to do more to help the people of Puerto Rico recover in the wake of Hurricane Maria.
He was in Kissimmee earlier Wednesday to meet with local Puerto Rican community leaders and discuss the island’s ongoing recovery effort.
On Tuesday, Nelson and Central Florida Congressman Darren Soto sent a letter to President Trump urging his administration to do more to help the island.
In the letter, Nelson and Soto called the federal government’s response in Puerto Rico "slow, tepid and completely inadequate."