The Trump White House Wednesday said that it is prepared to spend up to a record $91 billion to help Puerto Rico recover from a September 2017 hurricane even though it cited the island’s history of corruption and mismanagement.
With President Trump under fire for being critical of Puerto Rico on Twitter, and Democrats blocking a disaster funding bill if the administration doesn’t cough up more cash for the island, the White House pushed back, claiming it has given historic levels of money so far.
“Puerto Rico is on track to receive an historic level of aid for disaster recovery, in spite of the fact that it has repeatedly failed to manage its finances appropriately,” said the administration.
Puerto Rico got 91 Billion Dollars for the hurricane, more money than has ever been gotten for a hurricane before, & all their local politicians do is complain & ask for more money. The pols are grossly incompetent, spend the money foolishly or corruptly, & only take from USA….
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 2, 2019
The Trump administration says it has allocated over $40 billion so far and could spend up to $91 billion, “far exceeding funding for states hit by other recent disasters.”
Ever since Hurricane Maria hit, the president has been criticized by congressional lawmakers and Democrats on the island for not doing more to help it recover from the disaster, despite pouring historic levels of resources into the effort.
With Democrats pushing for more help, the president went on Twitter to push back and the White House offered facts and figures to back him up today as the fight escalated.
The Democrats today killed a Bill that would have provided great relief to Farmers and yet more money to Puerto Rico despite the fact that Puerto Rico has already been scheduled to receive more hurricane relief funding than any “place” in history. The people of Puerto Rico…..
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 2, 2019
“Rebuilding Puerto Rico efficiently and accountability,” is how the White House put their effort in a new document that included this quote from Trump: “The Puerto Rican people have tremendous spirit. When I was there and I looked at the way that — what they have to go through. They have a lot of problems. We’re going to help them straighten it out.”
The top points:
- The Federal Emergency Management Agency had the “longest” air mission delivering food and water, the “largest” disaster distribution ever and the “largest sea-bridge” operation bringing aid to Puerto Rico.
- Trump authorized 100 percent of the island’s work “cost-share” for nearly a year, the third longest ever granted by a president.
- Over $19 billion has been obligated across 14 agencies, and $8 billion remains unspent.
- With federal help, water and electric systems have returned and unemployment has dropped three points.
- The administration also made a point of claiming it is spending while trying to keep federal tax dollars from being squandered.
It detailed examples of financial mismanagement on the island that it is trying to avoid in spending so much so fast, including:
- The huge debt Puerto Rico is carrying.
- Failure to pay contractors on time.
- 375 public corruption convictions over the past 10 years.
Said the document, “Puerto Rico … has a long history of financial mismanagement and corruption.”
Still, said the White House, “The Trump administration continues to work with Puerto Rico on a plan to spend the money that is currently available to it.”
