(Bloomberg) -- Vice President Mike Pence pledged that the federal government will continue providing assistance to Puerto Rico until the hurricane-ravaged island has fully recovered, saying there is still “a long way to go.”
“We will be here for the long haul. We will be here until all the people can say with one voice ‘Puerto Rico se levanta. Puerto Rico is rising',” Pence said Friday during a visit to Iglesia Santa Bernadita, a church in San Juan.
Pence, traveling to Puerto Rico two days after President Donald Trump visited with hurricane survivors and federal relief personnel, praised the government effort to provide food and resources to residents.
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“But we have a long way to go. President Trump and I know this,” he said. “We will see this challenge through.”
Pence also said he “had faith” in Puerto Rico's governor and local leaders. Trump has criticized the mayor of San Juan after she complained of inefficiency in the federal response.
The federal board overseeing Puerto Rico's troubled finances has cited estimates that the massive rebuilding effort needed could cost as much as $95 billion, roughly 150 percent of the island's economy.
Pence and second lady Karen Pence visited the U.S. Virgin Islands earlier in the day and flew over St. Croix, St. Thomas and St. John. On all three islands, they witnessed roofs ripped off houses, mangled and leafless trees, and felled power lines.
The Pences, who were also traveling with Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao, the acting Health and Human Services secretary and the new U.S. Surgeon General, appeared at church services both in St. Croix and Puerto Rico.
To contact the reporters on this story: Jennifer Epstein in San Juan, Puerto Rico at jepstein32@bloomberg.net, Toluse Olorunnipa in Washington at tolorunnipa@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Alex Wayne at awayne3@bloomberg.net.
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