On Thursday September 28, 2017, the Natural Resources Committee Democrats sent a letter to chairman Rob Bishop requesting an oversight hearing on the administration’s response to hurricanes Irma and Maria.
The Natural Resources Committee has broad jurisdiction over the insular areas of the United States, including Puerto Rico.
Due to this broad jurisdiction, the Democratic members of the committee want to be informed, as indicated in the following statement: “[I]t is appropriate that we exercise our authority in this regard, to hear from officials of the Trump administration, in a hearing, on the sufficiency of their efforts to respond to the crises in Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands.”
“We believe it would be instructive for the Natural Resources Committee to get specific details of the federal response to this unprecedented disaster impacting two of the most vulnerable members of our American family.”, the letter added.
The letter was signed by the following representatives: Rep. Norma J. Torres (D-CA), Rep. Raúl M. Grijalva (D-AZ), Rep. Nydia M. Velázquez (D-NY), Rep. Nannette Diaz Barragán (D-CA), Rep. Donald S. Breyer Jr. (D-VA), Rep. Madeleine Z. Bordallo (D-Guam), Rep. Anthony Brown (D-MD), Rep. Jim Costa (D-CA), Rep. William Lacy Clay Jr. (D-MO), Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-AZ), Rep. Jimmy Gomez (D-CA), Rep. Jared Huffman (D-CA), Rep. Colleen Hanabusa (D-HI), Rep. Alan Lowenthal (D-CA), Rep. A. Donald McEachin (D-VA), Rep. Grace Napolitano (D-CA), Rep. Gregorio Sablan (D-NMI), Rep. Darren Soto (D-FL), and Rep. Niki Tsongas (D-MA).
Text of the letter can be found by clicking here.
