A group of House Democrats accused the Trump administration Thursday of illegally delaying $10.2 billion in disaster relief aid to Puerto Rico.
The lawmakers accused the administration of violating June legislation signed by President Trump that required the Department of Housing and Urban Development to publish a Federal Register notice by Sept. 4 on the availability of the money.
The Federal Register notice is a first step in a long process that allows groups to submit grant applications.
The holdup of federal funding for mitigation work “is scaring away private investors who are eager to begin work,” said Rep. Katherine Clark, D-Mass. “Time is of the essence here.”
“Trump administration officials have decided they are above the law and they get to do their own thing,” Clark said. “This is simply unacceptable. It is unconscionable and shameful.”
Rep. Ben Ray Lujan, D-N.M., called the situation a “grave injustice.”
“Since its very first days the Trump administration has treated Puerto Rico with disregard and contempt,” Lujan said.
Rep. Darren Soto, D-Fla. and co-chair of the Hispanic Caucus, said the situation provided another example of “the lawless presidency of Donald J. Trump,” in an apparent reference to the Democrat-led ongoing impeachment investigation.
HUD did publish a Federal Register notice on Aug. 30 on the availability of disaster relief aid for several states, but it did not include Puerto Rico or the U.S. Virgin Islands.
HUD officials did not respond Thursday to a request for comment.
“The American people of Puerto Rico are still without much needed recovery and relief assistance because of perpetual and illegal stonewalling by this administration,” House Appropriations Committee Chairwoman Nita Lowey, D-N.Y., said at a news conference.
Thursday marked 90 days since HUD failed to meet the Sept. 4 deadline.
The $10.2 billion is part of a larger pot of $20.2 billion in Community Development Block Grant-Disaster Relief aid approved by Congress for the U.S. territory in the wake of Hurricanes Maria and Irma in 2017.
The $10.2 billion is designated for long-term mitigation work to prevent a future recurrence of the damage and to make electrical grid improvements that will withstand future storms.
Much of the other $10 billion does not yet have grant agreements.
Rep. David Price, D-N.C., who chairs the subcommittee of House Appropriations with jurisdiction over HUD funding, said HUD Secretary Ben Carson promised earlier this year to publish the Federal Register notice by the end of May.
When that deadline was not met, Congress included a statutory requirement for publication by Sept. 4 in a larger supplemental disaster aid package signed by President Trump in June.
HUD officials acknowledged during an October House oversight hearing that they had no basis for not complying with the September deadline.
“What they didn’t say, and what we all wonder, is whether President Trump’s longstanding animosity, hostility toward Puerto Rico is really what’s behind this, whether the president is effectively forcing their hand,” said Price. “HUD and the Trump administration are denying $10.2 billion to Americans on an island that was utterly devastated by back to back hurricanes.”
Price called the administration’s actions “unconscionable.”
“Choosing to disregard the law is unacceptable on the face of it,” Price said. “It is especially unacceptable under these dire circumstances. So it’s time to release this notice. It’s time to treat the Puerto Rican people with the respect they deserve.”
