Biden vows to ensure Puerto Rico gets 'every single dollar promised' for recovery - POLITICO

Joe Biden said he’d long felt an intense kinship with the people here, noting his many visits and the fact that he’s from a small and diverse state.

PONCE, PUERTO RICO — Hours after having touched down in storm-ravaged Puerto Rico, President Joe Biden arrived at a steamy school gymnasium adorned with makeshift tables and red and blue tablecloths upon which supplies of food had been set.

Biden had his Biden-esque moments, declaring at one point that he was “raised in the Puerto Rican community at home politically.” He ran late and, in uncharacteristic fashion, only spent a few minutes inside the exceptionally warm gym hall, which appeared to lack a working air conditioner.

Before he walked into the gym, where a large Puerto Rican flag hung on one wall and a sign for the Hispanic Federation hung beside it, Biden had surveyed storm damage and met with families and community leaders, where he announced more than $60 million in funding through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law for disaster recovery and preparedness for future storms.

The new round of funding Biden announced will be used to shore up levees, strengthen flood walls and create a new flood warning system that will help Puerto Ricans prepare for future threats.

Biden said he’d long felt an intense kinship with the people here, noting his many visits and the fact that he’s from a small and diverse state.

The governor talked about the Biden administration’s commitment to Puerto Rico and said he wanted his people to be treated the same as all Americans are, while thanking the president for his attention.

While Criswell told reporters Monday that she didn’t have an estimate for recovery costs in Puerto Rico, Biden vowed to deliver the funds the island needs for its recovery.

After Hurricane Maria, FEMA awarded more than $32.5 billion for two grant programs that fund recovery projects, with the government in Puerto Rico and the U.S.

Five years ago, Trump had told Puerto Ricans they should be proud that only 16 people had died after Maria

The government of Puerto Rico later said 64 people died due to the storm, but research attributed an estimated 2,975 deaths to the damage the storm caused to the island, including its main infrastructure

Karina Claudio Betancourt, director of the Open Society Foundation’s $20 million post-Hurricane Maria project in Puerto Rico, said she would initially say “welcome to Puerto Rico” to Biden before talking to him about why Fiona caused such devastation despite being a “weaker” storm compared to Maria