Andrew Cuomo Traveling To Puerto Rico, Again

ALBANY, NY — Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo traveled to Puerto Rico on Thursday for the second time since Hurricane Maria ravaged the U.S. territory more than a month ago, saying he wants to evaluate the recovery and learn how New York can best help Puerto Ricans, who continue to struggle with power outages and shortages. Cuomo left New York on Thursday morning and was expected to return Thursday evening.

Cuomo blasted the federal response as well as comments from President Donald Trump and said rebuilding Puerto Rico will take years and billions of dollars in federal money.

"When you're talking about the people of Puerto Rico you're talking about Americans," Cuomo said. "And we never talk about leaving Americans in a critical situation. ... It's a long road and there's a lot of work to do. New York is going to be there."

The governor, considered a possible White House contender in 2020, traveled to the U.S. Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico last month to survey hurricane damage. On Thursday, he criticized comments by Trump, who two weeks ago Tweeted: "We cannot keep FEMA, the Military & the First Responders, who have been amazing (under the most difficult circumstances) in P.R. forever!"

"I don't know how the president or anyone else can talk about leaving when it's been over a month and we still haven't made the kind of progress we need to make," he said.

He noted the approaching fifth anniversary of Superstorm Sandy, which lashed New York City and Long Island.

"We rebuilt a New York that is better and stronger than it was before Hurricane Sandy," he said. "That should be the attitude in Puerto Rico."

The state has already sent several tons of supplies and hundreds of personnel including members of the New York National Guard and state police.

Photo credit: Mike Groll/Associated Press