Velazquez on FEMA Arrests

Washington, DC – Rep. Nydia M. Velázquez (D-NY) released the following statement regarding media reports that Federal Emergency Management Agency staff and the President of Cobra Energy have been arrested in relation to Hurricane Maria recovery funds:

"We've long known that FEMA's response to Maria was flawed and inadequate, but we are now learning it may also have been hampered by corruption. I am thankful that the Department of Homeland Security's Office of Inspector General and the FBI are ferreting out these misdeeds. These charges, related to the Island's beleaguered energy grid, are an appalling insult to the people of Puerto Rico who already endured the longest blackout in American history. If proven, this misuse of funds suggests that, while our fellow citizens on the Island were dying from a lack of electricity, private companies stateside were plotting how to illicitly profit at taxpayers' expense. We must do better by the people of Puerto Rico and I will work to hold this Administration accountable with that goal in mind."