By Jonathan Levin, Bloomberg
After Hurricane Irma, Floridians never felt compelled to remind the federal government that they were U.S. citizens. Nor did Texans after Harvey.
But that’s just what Governor Ricardo Rossello and the commonwealth’s government have done, over and over, in the wake of Hurricane Maria. “There needs to be unprecedented relief for Puerto Rico so that we can start the immediate effort right now,” Rossello said Tuesday on MSNBC.
Puerto Rico, an island of 3.4 million American citizens without a vote in Congress, is lobbying Washington for what could be billions in funding to rebuild its infrastructure, including its decimated energy grid. And it’s doing so amid an already costly hurricane season.
The island was crawling with 10,000 federal relief workers who were conducting search-and-rescue missions, helping bring electricity to hospitals, and providing aid packages, baby food and more. But with the Washington visitors on hand, Rossello’s team missed no opportunity to remind them of why Puerto Rico — mired in bankruptcy and ill-equipped financially to go it alone — shouldn’t become an afterthought.
At the San Juan airport Tuesday, there were signs of exodus. People waiting for standby flights have been camped out for days. One mother with two infants in car-seat carriers broke into tears, while desperate tourists took out smartphones to film video and demand answers on why there wasn’t water and other provisions, outside of the expensive airport shops.
Yamira Feliciano Ribera, 40, was there with a group of six relatives and friends, including two children, ages 1 and 3. She said they’d slept on the hard floor using luggage for pillows.
“We want to get out of Puerto Rico for a better situation,” she said, doling out Cheerios to the children. “We’re without water, without AC, without cash.”
There are signs that the Trump administration is heeding calls to step up its involvement.
Over the weekend, some Puerto Ricans took offense when Trump went on a Twitter rant about professional athletes and their views on race relations but omitted any comment on Puerto Rico, which was by that time falling deeper into crisis.
When he did tweet Monday night, the president drew a comparison between the aftermath of Hurricanes Harvey and Irma with that of Maria: “Texas & Florida are doing great but Puerto Rico, which was already suffering from broken infrastructure & massive debt, is in deep trouble.”
Noting that “much of the Island was destroyed” and that it still owes Wall Street billions of dollars, he added: “Food, water and medical are top priorities — and doing well. #FEMA”
The tweets came after criticism from some corners of Congress, with Washington Rep. Adam Smith, the ranking Democrat on the House’s Armed Services Committee, blasting the administration’s response as “wholly inadequate.”
But the island’s leaders have been effusive. The visitors Monday were “a clear indication that the administration is committed” to Puerto Rico, Rossello said.
There was still plenty to do, though. Rossello said he requested a temporary waiver on the cost-sharing between FEMA and the commonwealth. Normally Puerto Rico would commit 25 percent of the recovery funds, but it was already in fiscal straits and had filed for a form of bankruptcy protection before the disaster. After a disastrous debt binge, enabled by tax breaks that for decades had investors clamoring for its securities, Puerto Rico owes $74 billion.
Rubio said Puerto Rico should have access to low-interest loans, and Rossello later said that could be through the Fed or Treasury Department.
Jenniffer Gonzalez-Colon, Puerto Rico’s nonvoting congressional representative, said in an interview Monday that Puerto Rico sought an extended waiver on the Jones Act, a century-old set of rules that many say make imports more costly by requiring most good to be brought in by U.S. ships. But the Trump administration doesn’t plan to waive the act, The Associated Press reported. She’s also spoken with House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wisc., about having the Federal Emergency Management Agency temporarily cover the full cost of the damage, instead of the typical 75 percent.
Puerto Rico, which came under U.S. control in 1898 after the Spanish-American War, isn’t a state. The governor and his ex-governor father, Pedro Rossello, have both advocated for statehood, and the younger Rossello recently staged and won — albeit with a boycott from the opposition — a referendum on the issue. Some Puerto Ricans would still prefer to become a sovereign country, while others are happy with the status quo. The issue inspires fiery debates on the island, and no wonder: Puerto Ricans have fought in the U.S military since World War I.
Rossello reminded his visitors Monday of the role Puerto Rico played as an aid hub after Irma, when the U.S. Virgin Islands were badly hit.
And he sent his visitors home with a message for the rest of Washington:
“Let them know that we’re committed U.S. citizens, proud U.S. citizens, who helped others when they were going through difficult times, not more than 10 days ago,” he said. “Now it’s time to help Puerto Rico back.”
