Author: Ila Rae

Puerto Rico’s infrastructure has been decimated, leaving many citizens without electricity, clean water and food.
Both Florida senators, one a Republican and the other a Democrat, have demanded the administration come up with fixes for Puerto Rico’s damaged roads and bridges so aid can get where it is needed.
Massive damage to the water supplies has left many people drinking unclean water, causing outbreaks and deaths from leptospirosis.
Nurses returning from Puerto Rico have accused the government of leaving people to die in hospitals without clean water and where surgeries are done by the light of cell phones.
With infrastructure destroyed, many Puerto Ricans are also left without jobs.
Puerto Rico will need a massive quantity of imported supplies in order to rebuild its infrastructure and the Jones Act almost doubles the cost of many supplies.
Representative Nydia Velazquez (D-NY) has called for a one-year waiver of the Jones Act so that the cost of rebuilding supplies are within reach.
Puerto Ricans are Americans who have suffered a devastating natural disaster. We must do all we can to help Puerto Rico repair its critical infrastructure, including a one-year waiver of the Jones Act to help with the cost of the massive recovery effort.