Ben Carson signs grant agreement for CDBG-DR funding

On Friday, Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Ben Carson signed a grant agreement for the $8.2 billion in Community Development Block Grants for Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR), allowing Puerto Rico to immediately access $1.7 billion in emergency funds to address reconstruction efforts associated with Hurricanes Maria and Irma. With this action, there are no longer any administrative roadblocks preventing their distribution, after Governor Wanda Vásquez agreed to HUD’s demands for greater control and oversight of the funds.

This sum is on top of $1.5 billion in CDBG-DR funds that had been previously disbursed. This still represents a fraction of the $20.5 billion in disaster recovery funds initially appropriated by Congress.

Congressional Democrats state their conclusions after visit to Puerto Rico

Following a congressional delegation’s trip to Puerto Rico to review the damage caused by the January earthquakes and Puerto Rico’s slow recovery since Hurricane Maria, House Democrats expressed a desire to study how to deal with the financial problems faced by Puerto Rico’s various governments. House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, who visited the Island alongside Nydia Velázquez (D-NY), Alexandria Ocasio Cortez (D-NY) and Carolyn Maloney (D-NY), highlighted the lack of funds held by Island institutions, and the how it hinders their ability to finance recovery projects. 

During its visit, the congressional delegation also met with the Governor’s cabinet (Governor Wanda Vásquez was not at the meeting, instead attending to a family emergency and meeting with a political donor) and with FEMA’s leadership in Puerto Rico. They also observed the damaged Costa Sur power plant, the Agripina Seda elementary school (which was destroyed by the January earthquakes) and visited a refugee camp. After their trip, Hoyer asserted that, despite President Trump’s claims to the contrary, the government of Puerto Rico is acting with transparency regarding the management of federal funds. 

As Federal Aid Stalls, Victims of Earthquakes Remain in Limbo

While the tremors that struck Puerto Rico in January have lessened in strength and frequency, their effects are still apparent. With the $4.7 billion emergency aid bill passed by the House earlier this month stalled in the Senate, and with little chance of it being signed into law by the President, Puerto Ricans are left without much in the way of resources, particularly given that the Island’s governments were already cash-strapped. 

As Vox reports, hundreds of people in the southwest remain in refugee camps. While FEMA indicates that it has spent $16.8 million on individual and household assistance programs, and an average amount of $2,294 per person, others have indicated that the amount most receive is closer to $700—nowhere near the amount required for restoring what was lost.