(Orlando, FL) - Congresswoman Corrine Brown (D-Jacksonville) today blasted Florida Governor Charlie Crist for sending a letter to U.S. Health & Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius demanding that Florida be reimbursed for the costs of caring for victims of the Haitian Earthquake in its hospitals. According to The New York Times, the United States military suspended all evacuations from Haiti to the United States as of last Wednesday and will continue to refuse all evacuation requests, no matter how dire the need, until the issue with Gov. Crist has been settled.

The Times article said, "'The United States has suspended its medical evacuations of critically injured Haitian Earthquake victims until a dispute over who will pay for their care is settled,' military officials said Friday."

"Innocent lives are hanging in the balance, and people are literally dying in the streets while our Governor argues with the military," Congresswoman Brown said. "For four days now, people in life-threatening conditions have been left to die as a direct result of the Governor's ill-timed letter. This incident has become a national embarrassment."

Brown went on to note that the Governor never even bothered to reach out to her office, or the offices of any of her Democratic colleagues in Congress. "Any time he wants money for his agenda, he's got his people on the phone to my office asking for help," Brown said. "When he wants something, it seems like he's got me on speed-dial. But when people are on in a life-and-death situation, he can't pick up the phone? If the Governor needed help from Washington, he should have called me and the other most influential members of the congressional delegation. But he didn't do that. It seems like he just doesn't care."

Brown also blamed the military leadership for their role in the matter. "If the military understood the Governor's letter to mean that the State of Florida would refuse to provide treatment to those in need, particularly in a life-and-death situation, they should have come to Congress and asked for our help. We would have gladly given it. The American people have been exceedingly generous in helping out our friends and neighbors in Haiti, and I am appalled that the Governor and the military have chosen to argue with one another while innocent people are dying."

Congresswoman Brown added that on Monday she would work with the Congressional Black Caucus leadership to pass legislation providing for funding to care for the victims of the Haitian Earthquake. In the interim, she called on both the military and the Governor to get the evacuations resumed immediately. "For four days now, we have been sitting back watching people die while the two sides argue. We need to stop arguing, stop playing politics, and start helping people. If I need to mediate the dispute myself, I will make myself available any time, any place. But we need to get those evacuations going immediately!"

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