Schumer Blasts OMB For Abysmal Response To Senate Democrats’ Questions On Continued Delays To Puerto Rico Disaster Funding

Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer today released the following statement after receiving a written response from the Office and Management and Budget (OMB) to a September 12th letter from Schumer and Senate Committee on Appropriations Vice Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-VT) to the heads of OMB and the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) regarding Puerto Rico’s inability to access more than $18.4 billion in federally appropriated resources to assist with rebuilding disaster-devastated areas:

“The Office of Management and Budget’s abysmal response is evidence of their utter ineptitude and purposeful disregard for our fellow American citizens in Puerto Rico. Their inability to answer simple questions about how and when critical federal disaster funds will be disbursed means that children and families will continue to needlessly wait without the resources they need to fully rebuild. The entire administration must start working immediately to release the funds for which Senate Democrats fought so hard, and Congress has required, instead of pointing fingers at each other and feigning relevance to the process.”

OMB response can be found here.