Greater federal response to Maria

Puerto Rico's governor calls for greater federal response to Maria

By COLIN WILHELM

Puerto Rico Gov. Ricardo Rossello called on the Pentagon to provide more search-and-rescue help and humanitarian resources to help the beleaguered island recover from “complete devastation” from Hurricane Maria.

“We need more resources from the Department of Defense so we can get helicopters and resources,” Rossello told POLITICO in a phone interview Sunday night.

“We know that there are capabilities in the surrounding areas, helicopters, planes and so forth," he said. "And our petition is for us to be able to use them.”

A Defense Department spokesperson said in an e-mail that six Navy helicopters and three Marine Osprey planes capable of vertical takeoff and landing had begun search-and-rescue operations and damage assessments.

Days after the category 4 hurricane battered the island, only a handful of municipalities have been able to make contact with San Juan or the outside world. That has prompted the commonwealth government to dispatch runners to make contact, since roads throughout much of Puerto Rico have been made impassable.

Rossello said that in addition to more military resources, he would petition the Trump administration to lower the threshold for disaster expenditures that the island would need to refund.

He did not criticize President Donald Trump personally and praised promises of help the president made before the hurricane, as well as the response of the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Still, the island awaits a federal disaster declaration for 24 out of its 78 municipalities.

Rossello also called on Congress to treat Puerto Rico like a state in any comprehensive emergency aid package.

“Whatever relief package we have, whatever impact we have, we are U.S. citizens," Rossello said. "We shouldn’t be the lesser for it."

He called on the federal government to recognize Puerto Rico’s dire fiscal situation and consider the possibility that residents could leave in droves if the commonwealth doesn’t recover quickly, compounding the island's troubles.

If Congress doesn't step up, he said, “my fear is we’re going to have some side effects that are devastating both for Puerto Rico and the United States. Mainly massive migration that would deteriorate our [economic] base here in Puerto Rico and would provoke significant demographic shifting in other areas of the United States.”