In the autumn of 2020, I was appointed by former President Donald J. Trump to the Financial Oversight and Management Board (FOMB) for Puerto Rico. Congress created this board in 2016 to facilitate the restructuring of the island’s mountain of debt and to institute desperately-needed financial controls and reforms. Despite having accumulated more than a decade of professional experience working in Puerto Rico prior to my appointment, during my three-year term on the Board I learned so much more about this important part of America. Here’s what I can personally attest to: No President has done more for Puerto Rico than President Trump.
Following the devastation of hurricane Maria, which struck the island in 2019, the Trump Administration swung into action. Its response was swift, historic and unrelenting — continuing until literally days before President Trump left the White House in January of 2021.Under his leadership, thousands of federal employees were deployed to the island to assist with recovery efforts, which included the longest sustained air mission of food and water delivery and largest sea bridge operation to that point in FEMA’s history. In the immediate aftermath of the disaster, President Trump authorized billions for Puerto Rico’s rebuilding and recovery. The specifics included:
- $9.6 billion to repair and rebuild Puerto Rico’s electrical grid.
- $2 billion to the Puerto Rico Department of Education for the restoration of school buildings and facilities.
- 100 percent funding of Puerto Rico’s emergency work cost-share for nearly a year after the storm – the third longest ever granted by a president.
- In all, more than $40 billion in aid and assistance from the Trump Administration to the people of Puerto Rico.
Predictably, the national media ignored these facts and has since then shamelessly and falsely portrayed President Trump as ineffective and uncaring about Puerto Rico. In fact, much of the federal aid made available has yet to be utilized due to the Biden Administration’s failure to hold the Financial Oversight Board and Puerto Rico’s current government accountable to operationalizing these funds.
To make matters worse, eight years after Congress afforded the country bankruptcy relief, as it had accumulated debts totaling more than $70 billion, Puerto Rico’s power utility PREPA remains in bankruptcy while spending hundreds of millions on law firms and consultants who are financially incentivized to perpetuate the status quo. The $9.6 billion authorized by President Trump to rebuild PREPA’s grid has been largely unspent, subjecting the more than three million Americans who reside there to frequent blackouts and outages.
Vice President Harris unveiled a plan for Puerto Rico this week. But unfortunately it contains more of the same vapid claims and promises centered around “clean energy,” which the Biden Harris Administration has squandered billions on with little to nothing to show for it. The Harris plan does nothing to address the key obstacles to Puerto Rico’s growth outlook, including ending bankruptcy, which would catalyze outside investment and the construction of a 21st century business-sustaining energy infrastructure for Puerto Rico, not built on green hype but on affordable, reliable American natural gas.
