President Trump has repeatedly claimed that Puerto Rico has already received $91 billion in disaster relief funding.
That's not true, and the White House knows it. But as The Washington Post explains, there seems to be a good reason Trump keeps repeating it.
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After that first reported instance in March, a Post analysis found that only $11.2 billion had actually been spent on Puerto Rico's recovery from devastating hurricanes in late 2017. Another $40.8 billion has been allocated for relief, but hasn't gotten to Puerto Rico yet. The rest of Trump's massive figure comes from totaling these figures with another $50 billion in estimated costs over the next 20 years — a $50 billion that certainly hasn't been guaranteed to get to the island yet.
So while Trump's claim may have some merit, it's incorrect to say that Puerto Rico has gotten a massive $91 billion when it's actually only received about an eighth of that total. The White House actually said it would direct any questions about the $91 billion to the Post's analysis, so read that here.
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