In a report obtained by The Washington Post, HUD’s top watchdog detailed how OMB officials required an unprecedented interagency review process for any disaster relief funds that were disbursed to the island. In addition, the agency demanded other concessions from Puerto Rico’s government that hampered access to relief funds, according to the Post, including a suspension of its minimum wage law for employees of federal contractors.
The numerous demands caused friction between the agencies, the newspaper noted, leading former HUD Deputy Secretary Brian Montgomery to express HUD’s “mounting concerns and frustrations” to then-acting OMB director Russell Vought about “HUD’s inability to make progress” due to OMB regulations.ADVERTISEMENT
Those regulations amounted to holding disaster relief funds “hostage” as millions of people on the island went without power or reliable drinking water for months, Montgomery added, according to the report.
The agency’s new secretary, Marcia Fudge, praised President Biden for removing several Trump-era restrictions on Puerto Rico relief aid in a statement to the Post.