(WSVN) - President Donald Trump reportedly wants to cut off financial assistance to millions of Americans in Puerto Rico who are recovering from the devastation left from Hurricane Maria.
According to CNN, a congressional leadership aide said White House officials have told congressional leaders that the president does not want any more funding sent to the United States territory.
The news was first reported by Axios.
The aide said there are no talks to cut funds that have been set aside, but negotiations have been focused on keeping additional relief funds out of a spending bill that would pay for relief efforts in parts of the south that were hit by hurricanes.
The aide also said that Puerto Rican officials haven’t yet spent all the money already set aside for the territory, but the administration is moving to stop more money from going to the island “because they don’t need it and will most likely not be able to spend it.”
The president has previously accused Puerto Rican officials of mismanagement of funds, saying the money was used for reasons other than hurricane recovery.
“The people of Puerto Rico are wonderful but the inept politicians are trying to use the massive and ridiculously high amounts of hurricane/disaster funding to pay off other obligations. The U.S. will NOT bail out long outstanding & unpaid obligations with hurricane relief money!” the president tweeted in October.
Almost 3,000 people are estimated to have died as a result of the storm which hit in 2017.
In February, Puerto Rico received $16 billion in federal aid under a disaster relief package signed by the president.
However, officials estimate that about $94 billion would be needed to rebuild the island.
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