Dangling disaster relief funds, White House to require Puerto Rico to implement reforms
Source: wash post
Jan. 15, 2020 at 1:57 p.m. CST
PONCE, Puerto Rico The Trump administration plans to impose several new requirements on billions of dollars in aid for Puerto Rico, including a new restriction on the wages paid by the islands government to contractors working on disaster relief, according to two officials with knowledge of the plan.
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Under the parameters the Trump administration is proposing, Puerto Ricos government will have to agree to give new oversight authority to the islands federally mandated Fiscal Control Board an appointed, independent government body to receive funding for certain federal projects, officials said. Puerto Rico also will have to agree to pay federal contractors working on disaster relief less than $15 an hour, despite a recent executive order mandating the rate.
Hit by devastating earthquakes, Puerto Rico still waiting on billions for hurricane relief
Puerto Ricos government also will have to agree to create a new system for registering properties and deeds, a move aimed at curbing fraud in requests for federal reimbursement, according to the officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal plans. A fourth requirement would mandate that none of the disaster mitigation funding go toward the islands electrical grid, which is notoriously frail and has at times left residents without power for months.
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Puerto Rico earthquake aftershocks again rattle coastline as residents deal with disaster after disaster
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The help comes, but it comes one drop at a time, said Elizabeth Ocasio, deputy mayor of Ponce. We needed to strengthen these structures after the hurricane. Now, we have greater damage.
Congressional Democrats and Puerto Rico officials have denounced the Trump administration for stalling aid that could assist the islands slow and difficult recovery. Rep. Raúl Grijalva (D-Ariz.), who chairs the committee that oversees U.S. territories, said the process is starting to move, but Puerto Rico faces a specific set of challenges as a cash-strapped island pressured under an austerity program.
This has been a painful delaying tactic, Grijalva said.
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José B. Carrión III, chairman of the fiscal board, said in an interview that more authority is not something we sought but that the board is happy to help the federal government get more funding out the door.
We are not looking at this as a power play, Carrión said. We want to do our part so the federal government feels comfortable, and the funds flow to the people of Puerto Rico who need them. We want to get away from Puerto Rico being a problem situation.
Congress has approved $42 billion for the islands recovery, but only a portion of that money has been allocated.
The $8.3 billion in disaster mitigation funding was approved by Congress to protect parts of the island prone to natural disasters, such as by building water pumps where flash flooding occurs, said Deepak Lamba-Nieves, research director at Puerto Ricos Center for a New
Earlier this month, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) accused the Trump administration of illegally holding the money and called on the White House to cease and desist.............................
Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2020/01/15/dangling-disaster-relief-funds-white-house-require-puerto-rico-implement-reforms/?utm_campaign=wp_main&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter
It is a long article and lots of information at link.
Delay after delay!!
Link to tweet
?s=20
tanyev
(42,613 posts)yaesu
(8,020 posts)repukes love to torture people who are down, like pulling wings off flies when they were kids.
ancianita
(36,133 posts)keithbvadu2
(36,906 posts)"curbing fraud"?
Must be programs that Trump's friends are not involved in.
DEbluedude
(816 posts)Grokenstein
(5,727 posts)Generalissimo Corpulente can't be removed quickly enough.
Skittles
(153,193 posts)fucking asshole
warmfeet
(3,321 posts)No one could have ever predicted this.
It's a shocking doctrine, to be sure.
https://naomiklein.org/the-shock-doctrine/
Haggis for Breakfast
(6,831 posts)burrowowl
(17,647 posts)FM123
(10,054 posts)Every time we think he has reached rock bottom, it's a false bottom.
Bayard
(22,149 posts)Congress allocated the money months ago. They put no stipulations on it.
tclambert
(11,087 posts)Totally Tunsie
(10,885 posts)MORE Quid Pro Quo.
Bless the people of Puerto Rico, citizens of the USA.
Mc Mike
(9,115 posts)If there's any way they can drag a non-partisan governmental action into a far right partisan attack, Rump and the repugs will do it, every time.
They want to curb fraud, like they did when Gianforte's 2 buddies got that contract to restore the entire electrical grid.
dhill926
(16,355 posts)they are US citizens for chrissakes....
titaniumsalute
(4,742 posts)Does he make the state have reforms before aid since they suck about the most $$ out of our government programs by percentage?
bluestarone
(17,030 posts)We need a JUDGES ruling FAST!
Marcuse
(7,506 posts)tavernier
(12,401 posts)or should I say, he talked. And talked. His chief topic was Puerto Rico because he will be there on a cruise next week. He said that no one in PR works... they are habitually lazy and have lived off of our government handouts for years. Real Americans would have had the place cleaned up and back in shape after the hurricane, but they were just content to wait for the government to do it for them.
Obviously it makes no sense to argue with someone who is never wrong, so I wandered over to another conversation. I was curious though to wonder how he will act once he enters the country. Im thinking he might want to keep his opinions to himself.
NickB79
(19,258 posts)You do NOT call a Puerto Rican lazy, or insult their citizenship!
jmowreader
(50,562 posts)Whats the worst prison in Puerto Rico? It appears we have a new place to throw Trump after his conviction...