He says he's pushing for Puerto Rico earthquake aid, even as billions in Maria funds lag

Jan. 11--PEÑUELAS, Puerto Rico -- Ever since Hurricane Maria slammed Puerto Rico in 2017, leading to the deaths of almost 3,000 people and causing an estimated $102 billion in damage, this U.S. territory has been struggling to get billions of dollars' worth of recovery funds that have been approved by Congress but never disbursed.

Now, as the island is reeling from a series of earthquakes that have toppled homes and left at least two dead, a coalition of local and Washington officials say they are working to make sure there's no repeat of the post-hurricane delays.

After visiting a badly damaged energy complex on Puerto Rico's southern coast Friday, Sen. Rick Scott, a Florida Republican, said he was personally pushing the White House to acknowledge the extent of the damage and respond quickly.

"I will work my tail off to make sure that all the resources that can be available will be available," he told reporters, saying he'd also facilitated a call between Puerto Rico Gov. Wanda Vázquez and President Donald Trump on Friday.

Vázquez confirmed the call but was sparse with details. "I talked to Donald Trump and he's expressed his support for Puerto Rico," she said. She also thanked him for approving an emergency declaration on Tuesday, the same day a magnitude 6.5 earthquake hit the island.

Trump and the island have had a contentious relationship. Of the $43 billion Congress allocated to Hurricane Maria recovery, less than half has been disbursed, and many hold Trump responsible. He's often suggested the island is a den of thieves that cannot be trusted with recovery funds, calling it "one of the most corrupt places on earth" last year.

It's still unclear how much help Puerto Rico will need to recover from the earthquakes. Vázquez asked the island's 78 municipalities to send their damage reports so that she could send a cost estimate to the Federal Emergency Management Agency this weekend. But she also acknowledged how hard it is to pinpoint costs as the earth is still shaking. Some buildings that were only damaged by Tuesday's earthquake have been completely destroyed by weaker aftershocks.

On Friday, officials confirmed that a second person had died Friday -- apparently due to a heart attack -- after an earthquake hit shortly after 4 a.m. Hours later, at 6:26 p.m., magnitude 5.2 hit the island (the largest aftershock in three days).

The ongoing seismic activity has made this something of a rolling crisis.

Jenniffer González Colón, the island's non-voting member of the U.S. Congress, said that just a few days ago there were only 300 people in emergency shelters. Now there are 6,000.

In addition, about 280,000 people are still without electricity. José Ortiz, the CEO of the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority (PREPA), said he hoped to have electricity restored to the entirety of the island over the weekend. But with the Costa Sur power complex off-line, the island's other generators will be stretched to capacity. He's asking the federal government to send backup power plants to provide reserve capacity, "which we won't have once we bring power back to 100 percent" of the island, he said.

Due to Maria, there are already about 2,200 FEMA officials on the island, many of whom are being reassigned to deal with the earthquake, officials said.

Scott has visited the island more than 10 times -- as Florida's governor and then senator. González, a fellow Republican, thanked him for his support, calling him "the Senator from Puerto Rico who lives in Florida."

But even as Scott said he would push the White House and Washington to move quickly, he cautioned islanders to be patient.

"This is frustrating for everybody," he said of the federal government's slow response times. "It never happens fast enough."

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