The Trump administration imposed financial controls on billions of dollars in disaster relief for Puerto Rico, laying out conditions on how the money must be budgeted and spent, the Wall Street Journal reported. To receive the more than $16 billion in grant funding, Puerto Rico must submit detailed budgets, ignore its $15-an-hour minimum wage on federally funded projects and reform record-keeping around real estate properties, U.S. officials said. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development said it would make $8.2 billion available immediately through a credit line while publishing guidelines for Puerto Rico to draw up a plan for $8.3 billion in addition projects that will mitigate risks from natural disasters. Congress approved these tranches more than a year ago under a $20 billion disaster package after two hurricanes ravaged Puerto Rico in 2017, destroying the power grid and causing thousands of deaths. “Now that proper financial safeguards are in place, we can move forward with confidence that these additional disaster recovery funds will reach those who need them the most,” a HUD spokesperson said.
