Bennie Thompson presses FEMA over Puerto Rico's $30B backlog

Rep. Bennie Thompson led a two-day congressional delegation to Puerto Rico on June 12, 2026, to document why only $12.7 billion of $43 billion in allocated federal disaster funds has reached completed projects since Hurricane Maria hit in 2017.

Puerto Rico's Central Office for Recovery, Reconstruction and Resiliency (COR3) reported that roughly $40 billion had been formally obligated. committed by the federal government to specific projects. while only 30% of that obligated total has actually been paid out to contractors on finished work.

Former DHS Secretary Kristi Noem imposed a rule requiring DHS sign-off on every expenditure over $100,000. forcing thousands of routine contract decisions through a separate federal approval queue. DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin rescinded that rule in April 2026 after Puerto Rico officials documented the bottleneck it created, but FEMA staffing shortages kept approval backlogs running.

Puerto Rico Resident Commissioner Pablo José Hernández told the delegation that mayors flagged two persistent breakdowns: contractors who complete work and then wait months for federal reimbursement, and per-project approval queues where completed scopes sit awaiting paperwork clearance before FEMA releases payment.

The GAO documented FEMA's Puerto Rico approval backlogs and risk-management failures in 2021. five years before the Thompson delegation found the same problems. FEMA's failure to implement GAO-recommended process reforms during that window is itself a documented oversight failure.

FEMA approved $33 million in additional Puerto Rico recovery funding in April 2026, illustrating that individual project approvals continue even as the aggregate disbursement gap remains $30 billion wide. Single approvals don't close a pipeline problem.

Puerto Rico's recovery draws from multiple disaster declarations: Hurricane Maria (September 2017), a series of earthquakes beginning in December 2019, and Hurricane Fiona (September 2022). The cumulative damage made this the largest long-term federal disaster recovery commitment in U.S. history.

Puerto Rico's 3.2 million residents are U.S. citizens but their Resident Commissioner cannot vote on final legislation in the House and Puerto Rico sends no senators. The island depends on mainland congressional advocates like Thompson to force FEMA accountability. a structural disadvantage no state faces.

The Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. Chapter 68) governs FEMA's Public Assistance program, which funds Puerto Rico's infrastructure rebuilding. It gives FEMA broad administrative discretion over project approval timelines. discretion that created the bottleneck Congress visited in June 2026.

About 30% of approved recovery projects remained in a pending status as of the delegation's June 12, 2026 visit, meaning they had federal money committed but hadn't reached the completed-and-paid milestone that counts as disbursement.