{"id":864,"date":"2026-07-02T22:41:55","date_gmt":"2026-07-02T22:41:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/?p=864"},"modified":"2026-07-02T22:41:55","modified_gmt":"2026-07-02T22:41:55","slug":"puerto-rico-is-still-waiting-on-billions-in-aid-nine-years-after-hurricane-maria","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/?p=864","title":{"rendered":"Puerto Rico Is Still Waiting on Billions in Aid Nine Years After Hurricane Maria"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Puerto Rico has not received billions of dollars promised for recovery efforts after Hurricane Maria destroyed large swaths of land and imperiled its power grid in 2017, a government watchdog audit<\/u><\/span> found.<\/p>\n

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The U.S. vowed to send the territory $14 billion to restore its heavily burdened electrical grid, whose deterioration has caused chronic blackouts and high utility costs for years. Yet just a fraction of those allocated funds have made it to the island due to cumbersome project review processes, staff turnover, project funding requirements, and the dire financial straits of the island\u2019s electrical authority \u2014 which faces a $10 billion debt restructuring<\/u><\/span> \u2014 the Government Accountability Office reported.<\/p>\n

Puerto Rico has received about $2.7 billion of the $11.1 billion earmarked by the Federal Emergency Management Agency since 2017 for equipment, materials and engineering costs associated with grid modernization.<\/p>\n

An additional $2.9 billion in allocated funds was managed by the Department of Housing and Urban Development and Department of Energy, but most of that money has not been disbursed to the U.S. territory, the report said.<\/p>\n

FEMA has faced increasing staff turnover in recent years in addition to a recent Homeland Security Department hiring freeze, meaning the agency lacks capacity to review grid recovery projects in a timely manner, the GAO report said. This year, FEMA declined to renew contracts for its disaster recovery units<\/u><\/span>, whose work \u201cwasn\u2019t needed,\u201d then-acting administrator Karen Evans told Congress<\/u><\/span> in April.<\/p>\n

The GAO has documented similar findings for years: One from 2024 shows the U.S. government used only $1.8 billion of the more than $23 billion allocated to FEMA to revive Puerto Rico\u2019s utilities and power grid, among other recovery priorities.<\/p>\n

At the current pace, recovery from the last decade\u2019s natural disasters could extend until 2051, nonpartisan think tank RAND projected<\/u><\/span> last December.<\/p>\n

California Rep. Jared Huffman, the top Democrat on the House Natural Resources Committee, said the audit showed the federal government had \u201cbroken its promise\u201d to Puerto Rico.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThe people of Puerto Rico have waited nine years for their government to keep its word. They watched billions get appropriated and almost none of it arrive,\u201d Huffman said in a statement<\/u><\/span>. \u201cPuerto Ricans are paying more for electricity than almost anyone in the country and getting the least reliable power in return.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hurricane Maria killed as many as 4,645 people and triggered the longest blackout in U.S. history for 11 months. Puerto Rico has since endured a string of earthquakes that hit the archipelago in late December 2019 to early January 2020, as well as chronic blackouts that can last for days.<\/p>\n

This week\u2019s GAO audit coincides with the 10-year anniversary of the Puerto Rico Oversight, Management, and Economic Stability Act (PROMESA), which established a federally appointed oversight board to steward the territory\u2019s $72 billion debt.<\/p>\n

Puerto Rico\u2019s central power authority, PREPA, still faces bankruptcy and with it, roadblocks to receiving FEMA reimbursements. And Luma Energy \u2014 the private company that took over management of PREPA\u2019s energy distribution in 2021 \u2014 last week countersued<\/u><\/span> the Puerto Rican government over Gonz\u00e1lez\u2019s attempt to cancel its 15-year contract early.<\/p>\n

Resident Commissioner Pablo Hern\u00e1ndez \u2014 Puerto Rico\u2019s nonvoting representative in Congress \u2014 argues PROMESA was unnecessary when it was signed into law and denies residents the right to elect their own officials, despite the board\u2019s success.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe surrendered our self-government in exchange for fiscal relief. Ten years later, we have restructured most of our debts, we have balanced our most recent budgets, but we still dream about restoring our democratic self-government,\u201d Hern\u00e1ndez said in a Tuesday floor speech.<\/p>\n

Read more Hegseth Bristles at \u2018Ingrates\u2019 Protesting His Appearance in D.C.<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The U.S. territory has received a fraction of the $14 billion allocated to fix its electrical grid and aid recovery efforts.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":863,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-864","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-u-s-news"],"yoast_head":"\nPuerto Rico Is Still Waiting on Billions in Aid Nine Years After Hurricane Maria - Modern Home Journals<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/?p=864\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Puerto Rico Is Still Waiting on Billions in Aid Nine Years After Hurricane Maria - Modern Home Journals\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The U.S. territory has received a fraction of the $14 billion allocated to fix its electrical grid and aid recovery efforts.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/?p=864\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Modern Home Journals\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-07-02T22:41:55+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=864#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=864\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/533de239efc09a2ab59959cc1bff86d0\"},\"headline\":\"Puerto Rico Is Still Waiting on Billions in Aid Nine Years After Hurricane Maria\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-07-02T22:41:55+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=864\"},\"wordCount\":637,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=864#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/fb073523a0b517d05501b04ff49d67c0-scaled.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"U.S. News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=864#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=864\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=864\",\"name\":\"Puerto Rico Is Still Waiting on Billions in Aid Nine Years After Hurricane Maria - Modern Home Journals\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=864#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=864#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/fb073523a0b517d05501b04ff49d67c0-scaled.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-07-02T22:41:55+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/533de239efc09a2ab59959cc1bff86d0\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=864#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=864\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=864#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/fb073523a0b517d05501b04ff49d67c0-scaled.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/fb073523a0b517d05501b04ff49d67c0-scaled.jpg\",\"width\":2560,\"height\":1707,\"caption\":\"In this July 12, 2018 photo, Steven Vilella covers his generator outside his home that is still without electricity since Hurricane Irma and Maria in Adjuntas, Puerto Rico. 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