Letter to Senator Lamar Alexander, Chairman of Senate Health, Education, Labor & Pensions Committee - Call for HELP Committee Hearings on Hurricanes' Impact on Puerto Rico & U.S. Virgin Islands

Letter

Dear Chairman Alexander,

We write to again request that the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor & Pensions (HELP) hold hearings to assess the challenges facing the health and educational systems of Puerto Rico and the U.S . Virgin Islands in the wake of Hurricanes Irma and Maria.

On December 21, 2017, three months after Hurricane Maria, a bipartisan group of nine HELP Committee members wrote you to ask for hearings on these issues. 1 A month later, 186 organizations sent you a letter echoing this request. 2 But the Committee has not convened a hearing on these issues, and there appear to be no plans for the Committee to do so. The first anniversary of the September hurricanes that upended the lives of millions of U.S . citizens has now passed without the Committee holding a single hearing on any aspect of Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands' recovery.

Since we sent our initial request for hearings in December 2017, a number of developments have only underscored the need for the HELP Committee to conduct oversight of pressing issues confronting Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

On August 28, 2018, the Puerto Rico government revised its death toll to 2,975 lives lost from Hurricane Maria and its aftermath. 3 For months, the official death toll had been listed as 64 fatalities, despite numerous reports and studies indicating that it was far higher. 4 The update to the official death toll figures reflect the results of a government-commissioned study by researchers at George Washington University's Milken Institute School of Public Health, 5 which found that Hurricane Maria was in fact the deadliest natural disaster in recent U.S. history. 6

Both Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands continue to face critical challenges in their health and educational systems. U.S. Virgin Islands Governor Kenneth Mapp recently extended the territory's ongoing state of emergency. 7 The Virgin Islands' health care system has still not recovered from Hurricanes Irma and Maria; for example, Schneider Regional Medical Center- the sole hospital on St. Thomas 8 -has not yet been fully repaired and its cancer institute is still inoperative. 9 About one-third of the U.S. Virgin Islands' schools weren't ready to open on time to begin the academic year. 10

The health care system in Puerto Rico also faces substantial challenges. Even before Hurricane Maria, there was an exodus of doctors from the island 11 -a trend that's believed to have accelerated. 12 By many accounts, Puerto Rico is in the midst of a mental health crisis because so many residents were traumatized by the catastrophe. 13 And the island is poised to make major cuts to Medicaid spending, reaching almost $840 million less per year by 2023. 14

This summer, Puerto Rico closed down more than 250 schools. As the academic year begins, some schools' physical plants are still in poor shape, teachers remain unassigned, and many students have been forced into new schools. 15 Puerto Rico's institutions of higher education were also hit hard by Hurricane Maria, 16 and burdensome bureaucratic hurdles have reportedly made it difficult for colleges and universities to receive disaster aid. 17

These examples represent a small sample of the pressing issues within the jurisdiction of the HELP Committee that are affecting Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. We have a responsibility to exercise our oversight responsibilities to ensure that our fellow U.S. citizens struggling with the aftermath of Hurricanes Irma and Maria- the deadliest natural disaster in recent U.S. history- receive the resources and assistance they need to recover from these disasters and to rebuild in a long-term, sustainable way. We must find out what went wrong in the preparation for and recovery from this disaster, and make sure that federal and state agencies are better prepared for the next natural disaster.

Thank you for your consideration of this request.

Sincerely,