WASHINGTON — The Trump administration imposed extreme restrictions on Wednesday on billions of {dollars} in emergency aid to Puerto Rico, together
WASHINGTON — The Trump administration imposed extreme restrictions on Wednesday on billions of {dollars} in emergency aid to Puerto Rico, together with blocking spending on the island’s electrical grid and suspending its $15-an-hour minimal wage for federally funded aid work.
The almost $16 billion in funding, launched whereas Puerto Ricans nonetheless sleep on the streets for worry of aftershocks from final week’s earthquake, is a part of $20 billion that Congress allotted for catastrophe restoration and preparation greater than a 12 months in the past, in response to the commonwealth being hit by back-to-back hurricanes in 2017.
The Division of Housing and City Improvement had launched solely $1.5 billion of the congressional aid, citing issues about political corruption. Of that, solely $5 million has been allotted.
“In a terrific win for Puerto Ricans and U.S. taxpayers,,” mentioned Chase Jennings, a spokesman for the Workplace of Administration and Funds on the White Home. “The administration has outlined reforms for the grant settlement to Puerto Rico with the intention to defend sources
Consultant Nydia M. Velázquez, Democrat of New York and the primary Puerto Rican lady elected to the Home, referred to as the transfer disdainful and contemptuous.
“Why is Puerto Rico at all times subjected to totally different requirements in relation to this administration?” she demanded.
President Trump has clashed repeatedly with Puerto Rico’s authorities. In 2018, he suggested the death toll from Hurricanes Irma and Maria had been inflated “to make me look as dangerous as attainable.” He has exaggerated the quantity of federal aid allotted to the island and denounced the mayor of San Juan as “crazed and incompetent.”
Whilst strain has mounted for him to launch emergency help, the president has maintained his assertions that the cash won’t be properly spent. On Wednesday, the White Home funds workplace made clear how these assertions had formed aid.
To achieve entry to $8.2 billion in restoration cash and $8.three billion in catastrophe prevention funds, Puerto Rico must submit funds plans to its federally mandated fiscal management board, which can observe the place the cash goes. It would additionally must bolster its property registration database.
Puerto Rico can be barred from paying its $15-an-hour minimal wage to employees on federally funded tasks. And not one of the funds can be utilized on {the electrical} grid, though the Division of Housing and City Improvement has but to launch almost $2 billion that was allotted for Puerto Rico’s electrical system.
White Home officers acknowledged that rolling blackouts proceed in Puerto Rico however insisted there was no want for brand spanking new cash.
The necessities have been first reported by The Washington Post.
A congressional aide concerned within the difficulty mentioned the White Home and its funds workplace appeared to have chosen restrictions that will be politically tough for Puerto Rican officers to hold out. That method, the aide steered, the federal authorities wouldn’t seem answerable for withholding the help.
For instance, the fiscal management board is considered in Puerto Rico as unaccountable to the folks. And Puerto Rican officers will not be inclined to inform employees they are going to be paid lower than the minimal wage. With regard to the property and deed registrations, Puerto Ricans have lengthy used casual possession information.
The restriction referring to {the electrical} grid may be a sensible one: Congress has already appropriated a separate tranche of cash particularly for {the electrical} grid, although it has but to be allotted.
Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, the Democratic chief, referred to as the brand new restrictions “onerous and unprecedented” and mentioned they “would add insult to damage for our fellow Individuals in Puerto Rico reeling from a number of pure disasters.”
The White Home announcement got here 4 days after a 5.9-magnitude earthquake rocked an island reeling from a collection of earthquakes this month and nonetheless struggling to get better from Hurricanes Irma and Maria in 2017. Components of the island have misplaced energy, and a few Puerto Ricans have set up camp in public areas as a substitute of returning to their houses.
“Whereas it’s a welcome improvement that the administration has launched its maintain on these funds, this step is inexcusably overdue,” Ms. Velázquez mentioned.
Puerto Rico’s authorities was already straining to spend federal cash beneath earlier restrictions. The brand new circumstances will make it a lot more durable.
The administration’s disparate remedy of Puerto Rico is just not new. In August, the Division of Housing and City Improvement introduced that it could launch billions of {dollars} in federal catastrophe mitigation funds in two funds: one for 9 states on the mainland, and the opposite for nonstates like Puerto Rico and america Virgin Islands. The division additionally introduced it could appoint a federal financial monitor to ensure that the cash for Puerto Rico was managed correctly.
“Restoration efforts in jurisdictions ready to do their half…