Two Fla. senators blast purported halt to emergency supplies to the island.<\/b>
\nIn the face of blistering criticism from both Florida senators that the federal government was cutting off food and water supplies to Puerto Rico, federal management officials said Wednesday that they will continue to provide aid to the hurricane-battered island.
William Booher, spokesman for the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), said his agency and the government of Puerto Rico \u00ab\u00a0are not stopping the provision of commodities after Hurricane Maria\u00a0\u00bb and \u00ab\u00a0will continue to provide commodities to voluntary organizations and local officials who still have a need.\u00a0\u00bb
\u00ab\u00a0There is no decision to stop distribution of commodities,\u00a0\u00bb he said.
The uproar was prompted by remarks from Alejandro De La Campa, director of FEMA in Puerto Rico, to NPR on Tuesday saying that the aid would \u00ab\u00a0officially shut off\u00a0\u00bb Wednesday because of progress restoring power and basic services on the Caribbean island. The cut-off date was also noted by a second FEMA official, according to NPR.
Booher said in a statement to USA TODAY on Wednesday, however, that the Jan. 31 date \u00ab\u00a0was not intended for external use.\u00a0\u00bb
The most definitive statement yet on FEMA’s intentions came after Gov. Ricardo Rossello’s government asked the emergency agency to clarify reports of a shutdown of supplies.
Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., earlier called the purported decision to shut off shipments of supplies \u00ab\u00a0a travesty\u00a0\u00bb considering that a third of the island remains without power after Maria made landfall Sept. 20 as a Category 4 hurricane.
According to the U. S. government’s latest data, power has been restored to 65% of the island, 86% of residents have drinkable water and 84% of gas stations are operating, the Los Angeles Times reports .
\u00ab\u00a0I am absolutely shocked,\u00a0\u00bb Nelson said on the Senate floor Tuesday. \u00ab\u00a0I don’t want to mince words here. We have a full-blown humanitarian crisis in Puerto Rico right now.\u00a0\u00bb
Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., said FEMA’s purported decision is another example of how the U. S. continues to neglect the people of Puerto Rico and ignore responsibilities to help them.
\u00ab\u00a0There are still a lot of people that wonder why we are giving foreign aid to Puerto Rico,\u00a0\u00bb Rubio told USA TODAY. \u00ab\u00a0You have to remind them, Puerto Rico is a U. S. territory and its residents are U. S. citizens.\u00a0\u00bb
\u00ab\u00a0It would be a mistake to say that hurricane damage is over. The effort to address it doesn’t end the minute the trees are removed from the road and the roofs are tarped,\u00a0\u00bb Rubio said. \u00ab\u00a0It goes on for a while.\u00a0\u00bb
After FEMA made it clear Wednesday that it was not halting the shipment of supplies, Nelson said the \u00ab\u00a0cutting off aid to them now would have been a travesty. Reversing this disastrous decision was the right thing to do.\u201d
FEMA said Wednesday that the agency’s aid work for Puerto Rico has not changed since it began aiding the island and that joint assessments were being conducted regularly regarding response and recovery efforts.
The agency reports it has distributed more than 65 million liters of bottled water and more than 58 million meals to regional staging areas for local communities to distribute. More than $1.6 billion in food and more than $361 million in water has been provided to survivors, the agency added
FEMA says it has more than 46 million liters of water, two million Meals Ready to Eat and two million snack packs in Puerto Rico ready for distribution, if needed.
In December, the House of Representatives passed an $81 billion emergency aid bill to help hurricane victims in Puerto Rico, Florida and Texas, and wildfire victims in California. That money has not been approved by the Senate.
Disaster relief has fallen victim to the ongoing spending battles in Washington that led to a three-day government shutdown, and another shutdown is possible if Congress can’t strike a deal by Feb. 8.
Contributing: Ledyard King<\/p>\n

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