Puerto Rico is getting $13 billion in additional disaster funding to rebuild its energy grid and repair schools, which were ravaged by Hurricane Maria.
The money comes a full three years after the deadly storm and just six weeks before the presidential election, with Democrats and Republicans battling for Puerto Rican voters in crucial Florida. Speaking Friday at the White House, President Donald Trump brushed off questions about the timing.
“I’m the best thing that ever happened to Puerto Rico, not even close,” said Trump, who oversaw a Maria response that significantly lagged mainland disasters in the pace of both spending and staffing.
Puerto Rico Governor Wanda Vazquez, who recently lost a primary and will soon leave office, called the payment “an unprecedented accomplishment,” and said it was thanks to a “good relationship” with the White House.
The move comes at a key moment in presidential politics. Both parties are courting the hundreds of thousands of Puerto Ricans who have settled in Florida, America’s largest swing state. Some came after Maria, when an estimated 3,000 died and some parts of the island were left powerless for the better part of year.
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