WASHINGTON – Six months after Hurricane Maria made landfall in Puerto Rico, U.S. Senator Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) – a member of the U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee – released a statement on Tuesday urging Congress to appropriate additional funding to help the island rebuild and recover from the $100 billion in damage caused by Hurricane Maria and to help communities, like those in Connecticut, that have taken in families who fled from the island. Congress has appropriated tens of billions of dollars in aid to Puerto Rico, but much of it still has yet to reach those who need it most urgently. Hurricane Maria destroyed roughly 75,000 homes and caused damage to an additional 300,000 homes. Tens of thousands of residents are still waiting for permanent shelter, water, or power. Thousands of Puerto Rican families fled to Connecticut in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria.

“I saw the devastation in Puerto Rico with my own eyes – homes are ruined and some people still don’t have clean drinking water. The recovery process is underway and improvements have been made, but a serious lack of coordination between federal agencies caused abysmal delays in getting Puerto Rican families the assistance they need. Communities in Connecticut have welcomed families fleeing Puerto Rico with open arms, but our school systems and our local social service organizations need support.

“People in Connecticut who have friends and family in Puerto Rico tell me that devastation on the island was made worse by decades of Washington’s neglect. Without access to the same health care reimbursement and the same infrastructure funding and education dollars as other states, Puerto Rico starts every race fifty feet back from the rest of America. It’s time for this mistreatment to end.”

More than 275,000 Puerto Ricans live in Connecticut, making up about 8 percent of the state’s population. Murphy and U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) traveled to Puerto Rico earlier this year to build firsthand evidence of the ongoing devastation on the island to secure comprehensive aid for Puerto Ricans. Earlier this month, Murphy and Blumenthal announced federal funding to help schools, school districts, and institutions of higher education – including those in Connecticut – meet the educational needs of students who were displaced by the hurricane.

Immediately following Hurricanes Maria and Irma, Murphy called on Senate leaders to work with Puerto Rico Governor Ricardo Roselló to formulate and pass an emergency bill to rebuild Puerto Rico and restore stability to the island. Murphy has held several meetings with the Puerto Rican community in Connecticut to receive feedback on federal relief efforts. He has demanded that Congress give Puerto Rico and its residents the equal political and economic status they deserve, and he has called into question why – after the help of experienced electric companies was denied – companies with little experience received large federal contracts. He also urged the Federal Emergency Management Agency to extend Transitional Shelter Assistance for families in Connecticut displaced from their homes in the wake of Hurricanes Maria and Irma.