As academic studies and news reports continue to show that Hurricane Maria killed far more people in Puerto Rico than government estimates suggest, Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), and nearly two dozen other members of Congress sent a letter to the Federal Emergency Management Agency on Wednesday denouncing the Trump administration's continued failure to provide an accurate death toll from the storm.

"It's already hurricane season and about 11,000 people in Puerto Rico still don't have power. We cannot leave them behind to face even more destruction."

—Sen. Bernie Sanders

Highlighting the fact that a correct mortality count is "essential" for both "understanding the true severity of conditions on the ground" and calculating how much aid will be necessary for a just recovery, the lawmakers expressed alarm that "the Trump administration has never publicly expressed any concerns about the accuracy of the death count."

Aside from his boast last October that just 16 people had died from Hurricane Maria—an estimate that was slammed as a dramatic understatement at the time—President Donald Trump has been silent about the death toll from the storm, which he "conspicuously failed to mention" during a meeting at FEMA headquarters last week, the lawmakers note.

While the "official" death toll from Hurricane Maria stands at 64, a Harvard study published late last month concluded that the actual count could be more than 70 times higher. Additionally, as Sanders pointed out in a video posted to social media on Wednesday, thousands of Puerto Ricans are still without power eight months after the Category 4 storm slammed into the island.

It's already hurricane season and about 11,000 people in Puerto Rico still don't have power. We cannot leave them behind to face even more destruction. pic.twitter.com/a2xhlvxrIs — Bernie Sanders (@SenSanders) June 13, 2018

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"Hurricane Maria caused historically devastating damage to the island of Puerto Rico," the members of Congress wrote in their letter, which was also sent to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). "We are extremely concerned by the ongoing inability to obtain an updated, accurate death toll from Hurricane Maria, and the Trump administration's failure to provide any assistance or demand accountability in that process."

The lawmakers concluded their letter with a series of detailed questions aimed at identifying "how the federal government will address fatality count discrepancies and better execute disaster response and assistance to Puerto Ricans and other communities affected by hurricanes in the future":