Investigation suppressed by Trump administration reveals obstacles to hurricane aid for Puerto Rico

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: Washington Post

The Trump administration put up bureaucratic obstacles that stalled approximately $20 billion in hurricane relief for Puerto Rico and then obstructed an investigation into the holdup, according to an inspector general report obtained by The Washington Post. Congress requested the investigation into the delays to recovery aid for Puerto Rico after Hurricanes Irma and Maria in 2017 left residents without power and clean water for months.

But the report said former Housing and Urban Development secretary Ben Carson and another former HUD official declined to be interviewed by investigators during the course of the 2019 examination. Access to HUD information was delayed or denied on several occasions. And several former senior administration officials in the Office of Management and Budget refused to provide requested information about decision-making related to the Puerto Rico relief funds. “Delays and denials of access and refusals to cooperate negatively affected the ability of the [Office of Inspector General] to conduct this review,” the report said.

The 46-page report presents an incomplete picture of the political influence of the Trump White House on delaying disaster relief for the struggling island. Still, the inspector general found unprecedented procedural hurdles set by the White House budget office — in addition to an extended government shutdown that also produced delays. The OMB required HUD’s notice of grant funds to go through an interagency review process before approval, preventing HUD from publishing its draft notice of funding by its target date.

The OMB had never before required such a review process for a notice allocating disaster-recovery funds, according to the inspector general’s report, and there had been no previous discussion about requiring the extra step. One senior HUD official, Stan Gimont, the then deputy assistant secretary for grant programs, bemoaned the tedious review process imposed by the White House budget office as “kind of like Groundhog Day, just keeps coming back. And that’s . . . where your frustration will set in. . . . . It’s almost like we’re going to keep bringing this back to you until you just eat it,” the report said.

Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2021/04/22/puerto-rico-hurricane-trump-hud/

[JustAnotherGen]

1. Trump delivered independence to PR

Check out Javier Hernandez - my neighbor and friend. He's a strong voice in the Independence movement. The Jones Act was a critical component to the people of PR NOT being able to flip 45 the bird and help themselves.

So - the 46 page report is just going to add more fuel to the fire... Of Independence.

[cstanleytech]

2. Maybe, maybe not.

Puerto Rico going independent has some advantages but also some disadvantages.
For example currently anyone from Puerto Rico can travel, live and work in the US with minimal problems but they will no longer enjoy that benefit if they decide to become fully independent.

[JustAnotherGen]

10. When you get into the weeds

With the leaders of the independence movement -


We've *The Colonizers** have kept them dependent on us - for everything.

If modeled in the same manor as Singapore - they might not want to come here as much. The burden then lays on former colonizers who wish to go on vacation there.

Look at Singapore's economy - and look at theirs.


Javier's book below. I would love him to join DU and speak to directly with you. He's absolutely fabulous. Even brought back the indigenous language.

https://www.thriftbooks.com/w/prexit-forging-puerto-ricos-path-to-sovereignty_javier-a-hernndez/26235221/#edition=29792204&idiq=36994937

[djacq]

3. Trump never believed that Puerto Ricans are Americans.

[area51]

4. Yep. n/t

[iluvtennis]

8. Yep + 2. n/t

[NH Ethylene]

5. He wouldn't have cared either way.

He was fine with seeing POCs suffer and die, along with the elderly and anybody in a Blue State.

[Irish_Dem]

6. He tells his own people to drink bleach and not get vaccinated.

So he doesn't care who he kills. As long as there is something in it for him.

[Evolve Dammit]

7. That is the tragically sad reality of his sociopathic "presidency."

[lookyhereyou]

9. well said

[Kid Berwyn]

11. Meanwhile, thousands of Puerto Ricans died.

Trump denied them Water. Electricity. Medicine. Food.

It was not a bureaucratic error. It was intentional. Like putting a knee on a handcuffed island’s neck.