Imagine having the task of responsibly distributing the most aid money ever for a natural disaster to a government mired in corruption, and under FBI investigation. That’s what’s happening right now in the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico nearly three years after hurricanes, Maria and Irma.
Is the money getting to those who really need it?
You have $91 billion reasons to care.
Sunday on Full Measure, we're in Puerto Rico to follow the hurricane money and the fraud. It's an original investigation you won't see anywhere else.
We'll also visit an illegal immigrant refugee center where volunteers help process hundreds of people who cross into the U.S. with their family members.
And the shocking coordination-- some say manipulation-- of state laws with special interests (rather than lawmakers) writing the bills passed in legislatures.
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Unless things have changed since Sandy, I found there didn't seem to be any auditing at all of the huge amounts given to Governors who then doled it out to counties who then passed on something to the supposedly affected towns. However, we did find that towns that weren't touched managed to get nice shares of that money that was supposed to fix our infrastructure. The only auditing FEMA did was of second home owners who even if they had paid for NFIP insurance, were not included in payouts to repair their homes. In our State that didn't add up to much.
The government doesn't seem interested in making sure that the millions they dole out after an "Act of God," are spent appropriately. Here I sit 8 years later with a road that has more pot holes than not.
Vendors of services all were politically connected and often didn't provide the best prices for sometimes shabby work. FEMA didn't audit those bills either.