Seeking to win over Puerto Rican voters in Florida, Trump says he will finally release billions in aid to the territory.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/18/us/elections/seeking-to-win-over-puerto-rican-voters-in-florida-trump-says-he-will-finally-release-billions-in-aid-to-the-territory.html

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President Trump, who has long held up federal aid to help Puerto Rico recover from back-to-back hurricanes in 2017, announced on Friday that he was finally releasing $13 billion to rebuild its electrical grid and repair schools as he seeks to win over Puerto Rican voters living in the key battleground state of Florida.

For three years, Mr. Trump has been at odds with Puerto Rico, harshly attacking its leadership and blocking or placing restrictions on assistance after Hurricanes Irma and Maria ravaged the island, arguing that the island territory had received too much money already. At one point, he even discussed with aides the prospect of selling Puerto Rico rather than be saddled with the cost of recovery.

But with Puerto Ricans who relocated to Florida now a significant voting bloc in one of the most critical states in the fall campaign, the president abruptly pivoted and presented himself as a friend to the island and its people. “I’m the best thing that ever happened to Puerto Rico,” he claimed. “Nobody even close.”

Few others would agree with that claim, even as Puerto Rico’s government thanked the administration. Others pointed to the campaign as the real motive for finally releasing the aid.

“The Trump administration delayed, dragged its feet and resisted allocating these badly needed funds,” said Representative Nydia M. Velázquez, a New York Democrat who was born in Puerto Rico. “Now, 46 days before the election, the administration has finally seen fit to release these funds.”

Earlier this week, Joseph R. Biden made his first visit to Florida as the Democratic presidential nominee and shared his plans for Puerto Rico. Biden said he believes statehood “would be the most effective means of ensuring that residents of Puerto Rico are treated equally, with equal representation at a federal level,” and that residents of Puerto Rico must first decide if they want to pursue statehood.

Mr. Biden’s plan also called for accelerated access to reconstruction funding, investments in Puerto Rican infrastructure after devastating hurricanes, expanded health care and nutrition assistance, and efforts to “reduce its unsustainable debt burden.”