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The Senate is moving forward on a disaster aid package this week, despite concerns from some lawmakers that it would “bail out”' the struggling federal flood insurance program and doesn’t include enough money to help states recover from devastating hurricanes, USA Today reported today. The Senate agreed yesterday to take up a $36.5 billion bill with a final vote possibly as early as today. If approved, it would be the second installment of disaster aid for states and U.S. territories hard hard hit by Hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria and wildfires in the West. Also contained in the legislation is the "Bankruptcy Judgeship Act of 2017," that would amend the federal judicial code to: - Convert certain temporary bankruptcy judges to permanent bankruptcy judges and authorize the appointment of additional bankruptcy judges in Delaware and Michigan; - Convert temporary bankruptcy judges to permanent bankruptcy judges in specified judicial districts in Florida, Maryland, Nevada, North Carolina, Puerto Rico, and Virginia; and - Authorize the appointment of an additional bankruptcy judge in the middle district of Florida. - Increase the quarterly fee payable to the U.S. trustee by chapter 11 (reorganization) debtors whose disbursements equal or exceed $1 million in a fiscal year unless the balance in the United States Trustee System Fund exceeds $200 million. Read more. 

Click here to read the latest text of H.R. 2266. 

For the sprawling effort to restore Puerto Rico’s crippled electrical grid, the territory’s state-owned utility has turned to a two-year-old company from Montana that had just two full-time employees on the day Hurricane Maria made landfall, the Washington Post reported today. The company, Whitefish Energy, said last week that it had signed a $300 million contract with the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority to repair and reconstruct large portions of the island’s electrical infrastructure. The contract is the biggest yet issued in the troubled relief effort. Whitefish said yesterday that it has 280 workers in the territory, using linemen from across the country, most of them as subcontractors, and that the number grows on average from 10 to 20 people a day. The power authority, also known as PREPA, opted to hire Whitefish rather than activate the “mutual aid” arrangements it has with other utilities. The unusual decision to instead hire a tiny for-profit company is drawing scrutiny from Congress and comes amid concerns about bankrupt Puerto Rico’s spending as it seeks to provide relief to its 3.4 million residents, the great majority of whom remain without power a month after the storm.

It has been a month since Hurricane Maria made landfall in Puerto Rico as a Category 4 storm and pummeled the island with sustained winds of 155 mph, the Wall Street Journal reported today. The storm devastated Puerto Rico’s water system, power grid, road network and cellphone infrastructure, and Maria is now responsible for at least 48 deaths. Highways and bridges suffered heavy damage, cutting off some towns and hampering delivery of relief supplies such as food and water. Of Puerto Rico’s 5,073 miles of road, 392 were open earlier this week (including passage on an outer ring of the island), according to the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Further complicating the recovery: access to cash. Many bank branches and many ATMs are out of service. Those operating often draw long lines of people. The cash crunch is hurting commerce, in part because many businesses can’t take credit cards because they have no electricity or internet service.

Puerto Rico’s federal oversight board hired two firms to lobby in Washington, D.C., for policies that will help pull the bankrupt island out of a decade-long recession, Bloomberg News reported on Friday. Williams & Jensen and Off Hill Strategies will push for policy changes at the White House and in Congress, according to contracts posted on the board’s website. Such measures include waiving the Jones Act — which limits cargo between Puerto Rico and the mainland — and allowing impoverished residents to receive the federal earned income tax credit, according to the contracts. The House of Representatives on Thursday passed a $36.5 billion disaster-relief bill that would give Puerto Rico access to low-interest Treasury loans the island has said it needs to avoid running out of cash by the end of October. The severity of Puerto Rico’s financial strain has led investors to expect that its debts will be cut deeply in court, leaving general-obligation bonds due in 2035 trading for 34.3 cents on the dollar, not far off a record low of 30 cents hit last week. The board also engaged Munger, Tolles & Olson LLP to represent it against hedge fund Aurelius Investments LLC, according to a contract posted on Thursday on the panel’s website. The fund in August asked the U.S. District Court Judge Laura Taylor Swain to dismiss the bankruptcy case because the federal board members were never confirmed by a vote of the U.S. Senate. Aurelius Capital Management, which oversees Aurelius Investments, held about $471 million of Puerto Rico general-obligation bonds as of July 12.

House lawmakers unveiled a bill yesterday that would provide $36.5 billion in emergency funding for hurricane and wildfire relief requested by the Trump administration, Bloomberg News reported. With Congress under pressure to provide urgent help to storm victims in Texas, Florida and Puerto Rico, the House measure includes $18.7 billion for the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s disaster relief fund, as well as $16 billion to replenish the nation’s flood insurance program. The legislation would also give Puerto Rico access to a $4.9 billion low-interest Treasury loan so it doesn’t run out of cash as the island recovers. That funding is needed to help the territory pay government salaries and other expenses after Oct. 31. The bill is expected to be voted on by the full House later this week and then taken up by the Senate as early as next week.

Puerto Rico Gov. Ricardo Rosselló is asking Congress to consider providing about $1.4 billion in funding beyond the Trump administration’s request last week to help the U.S. territory recover from Hurricane Maria, The Hill reported today. In a letter made public yesterday to House and Senate leaders, Rosselló requested funding for federal grant and loan programs “to meet the immediate emergency needs of Puerto Rico.” Rosselló’s request includes $3.2 million for Community Development Block Grants, $500 million for the Community Disaster Loan Program, $500 million for the Social Services Block Grant, $149 million for the Emergency Relief Program, $90 million for the Disaster Loan Program, $83 million for the Commodity Assistance Program and $78 million for the State Educational Agencies and Hurricane Education Recovery.

Vice President Mike Pence pledged that the federal government will continue providing assistance to Puerto Rico until the hurricane-ravaged island has fully recovered, saying there is still “a long way to go,” Bloomberg News reported on Friday. “We will be here for the long haul. We will be here until all the people can say with one voice ‘Puerto Rico se levanta. Puerto Rico is rising’,” Pence said on Friday during a visit to Iglesia Santa Bernadita, a church in San Juan. Pence, traveling to Puerto Rico two days after President Donald Trump visited with hurricane survivors and federal relief personnel, praised the government effort to provide food and resources to residents. Pence also said he “had faith” in Puerto Rico’s governor and local leaders. Trump criticized the mayor of San Juan after she complained of inefficiency in the federal response. The federal board overseeing Puerto Rico’s troubled finances has cited estimates that the massive rebuilding effort needed could cost as much as $95 billion, roughly 150 percent of the island’s economy.

The House Committee in Natural Resources will start analysing actions to be taken regarding the recovery of Puerto Rico, which will include reviewing the implementation of PROMESA law, ElNuevodia.com reported yesterday. "It's all going to be on the table," said yesterday Rep. Rob Bishop (R-Utah),  chairman of the Natural Resources Committee, who led a roundtable discussion with committee members and other congressmen on the possibility of enacting legislation. Bishop, however, seemed inclined to maintain "the structure we already have." During the closed-door session, Resident Commissioner Jenniffer González and delegate Stacey Plaskett submitted reports on the catastrophes caused by Hurricanes Irma and Maria in Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands, respectively. Shortly after, the White House Office of Management and Budget sent Congress a resolution that would allocate $ 16 billion in emergency funds to pay debt claims under the flood insurance program and another $ 12.77 billion to finance the fund to address disasters of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). The Resident Commissioner said that the possibility of promoting that the federal government authorizes an emergency short-term loan to prevent the government of Puerto Rico from becoming insolvent this month is under discussion. The other option is to consider if it is possible to be authorized by executive order. In a press call, prior to the roundtable, Bishop said that the House Committee on Natural Resources will be in charge of possible legislation for "the overall strategy of the reconstruction process" of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands.