Washington, D.C. -Today, Rep. Elijah E. Cummings, the Ranking Member of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, and Rep. Stacey Plaskett from the U.S. Virgin Islands who also serves as the Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on the Interior, Energy and Environment, sent a letter to Chairman Trey Gowdy expressing their extremely grave concerns about the dire status of recovery efforts in Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands and requesting that the Committee hold an “emergency hearing" next week with officials from the Departments of Defense, Homeland Security, and Health and Human Services, as well as from the White House.
“The full Committee currently has no hearings, business meetings, or other activities scheduled for the entire week, and this issue is in desperate need of rapid and robust oversight," Cummings and Plaskett wrote. “Millions of American citizens residing in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands are facing massive calamities-including widespread disease and death-and we need to help them now."
The Members cited the precedent of the former Republican Chairman, Tom Davis, who led the congressional investigation into the Bush Administration’s response to Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
“Urgent action by our Committee now could help accelerate the federal response to the devastation in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands and make a measurable and significant difference in the lives of American families there," the Members wrote. “Oversight now also could help prevent a worsening of the human tragedy that is unfolding and could help ensure that the lessons our Committee identified from past federal responses are implemented by the Trump Administration."
