A dozen mayors press Congress and federal agencies this week, with roughly $24 billion in disaster recovery funds still undisbursed.
The president of the Puerto Rico Mayors Association (Asociación de Alcaldes), Jorge “Georgie” González Otero, said Monday that an intensive week of meetings is underway in the federal capital, where about a dozen member mayors already have sit-downs scheduled with the office of Resident Commissioner Pablo José Hernández, as well as with senators and members of Congress from both parties.
The trip lands at a pointed moment. Nearly nine years after Hurricanes Irma and María, roughly $24 billion in federal funds allocated for the island’s recovery remain undisbursed, according to reporting on the reconstruction bottleneck. Mayors and federal officials have pointed to a familiar set of obstacles: inconsistent review processes, case backlogs tied to thin agency staffing, and cost-verification procedures that push reconstruction expenses even higher the longer projects sit unresolved.
Many municipalities also lack the upfront capital to break ground before FEMA reimbursements arrive, a financing gap that can stall even projects that have already been approved. FEMA has granted extensions on 573 reconstruction projects tied to Hurricane María and the 2020 earthquakes, giving municipalities, government agencies and nonprofits until September 20, 2026 to complete critical work — a deadline now shadowing this week’s meetings.
“The situation our municipalities are facing requires constant, reinforced lobbying for pending projects. That’s why this week we’re dividing up by issue area, to get access to legislative staff, federal agencies and nonprofit organizations. We’ll also meet with the Puerto Rico Federal Affairs Administration (PRFAA) in Washington, where we’ll discuss with its executive director, Gabriella Boffelli, the status of projects tied to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), both islandwide and specifically in the municipalities,” said González Otero, who is also mayor of Jayuya.
This week’s mission follows a similar push in June, when Hernández met in Washington with mayors William Miranda Torres of Caguas, Carlos “Tito” Ramírez Irizarry of Arecibo and Jorge Ramos Ruiz of Mayagüez, along with Democratic members of the House Homeland Security Committee, specifically to discuss the obstacles municipalities face in accessing FEMA funds.
The mayors will also hold a working session with the National League of Cities (NLC), the largest and oldest nonpartisan organization in the United States representing the interests of municipalities, cities, towns and villages. “They currently represent about 200 million citizens, and for us they’re an extraordinary resource, because they work daily and directly with Congress and the federal government on the financial, policy and legislative priorities of local governments,” González Otero added. NLC has had a standing relationship with Puerto Rico’s 78 municipalities since 2018, when it offered them complimentary membership to support recovery efforts after Irma and María — membership that gives municipalities access to NLC’s Washington lobbyists, its Congressional Cities Conference and a database connecting cities to thousands of federal funding opportunities.
Among the mayors’ priorities are projects under FEMA, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and USDA Rural Development, as well as processes involving the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE). “Residents question — rightly so — why reconstruction projects take so long. Sometimes there are bureaucratic processes that are difficult to coordinate, and meetings like these help move the work forward,” the municipal leader said.
González Otero added that mayors will keep the public updated directly through mass media and social media throughout the week to report on the work being done in the federal capital.
The Puerto Rico Mayors Association groups together the island’s Popular Democratic Party-affiliated mayors; González Otero has led the organization since being elected to the post in January 2025.
