Is the Federal Government Doing Enough for Puerto Rico?
Puerto Rico is in dire straits. That happens when an island is struck by two major hurricanes in short succession. Most of the island is without electricity. Water, fuel, food, and medicine are scarce across the U.S. territory, and officials there are warning that people are dying for lack of resources. Hospitals are struggling to provide lifesaving care, and one doctor recommended that sick patients simply leave Puerto Rico, as my colleague Olga Khazan reports.
The question is whether the federal government is doing all it can. Puerto Rican Governor Ricardo Rosselló has been , pleading for extra assistance from Washington. President Trump, meanwhile, has been subject to criticism that he has been too slow in reacting or paid too little attention to the unfolding disaster. The problem is that getting aid in after a storm always takes a long time, and after a disaster this serious, it’s hard to even get a full sense of what the damage is. (My colleague Vann Newkirk of getting information from Puerto Rico.)
