San Juan's mayor isn't happy Republicans canceled a hearing about Hurricane Maria
San Juan's mayor has freely criticized the government's response to Hurricane Maria. But now she's been denied the chance to testify before Congress.
Carmen Yulín Cruz was set to speak Wednesday in a hearing about FEMA's preparation and response to Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico. Currently, only 33 percent of the island’s power has been restored.
She came to Washington, D.C., at the invitation of U.S. Rep. Bennie G. Thompson, a ranking member of the U.S. House of Representatives Homeland Security Committee. This happened shortly after her public spat with President Donald Trump and Whitefish Energy, the two-person Montana firm hired to restore power to Puerto Rico.
But then Republican members canceled -- or rather indefinitely postponed -- the hearing with the mayor and FEMA director Brock Long with no new date set. No immediate reason was given for the scheduling change.
Cue outrage and a frustrated mayor.
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Thompson wrote a Twitter thread about the hearing in which he called the postponement "inexcusable."
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When the mayor landed at the capital she found out about the cancellation. She asked in a video, "What are they afraid of?" But her trip is not in vain--she'll be using her time in D.C. for other meetings.
Topics Politics
Sasha is a news writer at Mashable's San Francisco office. She's an SF native who went to UC Davis and later received her master's from the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism. She's been reporting out of her hometown over the years at Bay City News (news wire), SFGate (the San Francisco Chronicle website), and even made it out of California to write for the Chicago Tribune. She's been described as a bookworm and a gym rat.
