NYT reports FEMA is spending $200 million per day. Whitehouse has requested additional $29 Billion on top of the previous $15 Billion (which is still being being spent, now mainly on Maria recovery).
Then we have lower level efforts like the FCC approving $77 million in aid to restore communications.
And every one of the brave professionals deployed there will have stories like Dr. Stein's in the OP.
GDP of Peurto Rico is ~$100 billion, by comparison.
What the United States is doing for the people of Peurto Rico is exactly the extraordinary compassion I love to see from my country. I think people are blinded by politics on this one.
This isn't about Trump. America is responding to Americans in need, and I think we can actually be proud of the response. I'm not saying it has been perfect, but it certainly is immense.
This is a reasonably fair article although I want to make a couple key points.
The comparison point of the Haiti earthquake Makes No Sense! Deaths in Haiti we're maybe 230,000. Deaths in Peurto Rico are < 100.
Troops Deployed comparisons make no sense! Haiti is the poorest country in the Western hemisphere. It's GDP is $8 billion for 8 million people vs $100 Billion for 3.5 million people in PR. Peurto Ricans are 28x more productive per capita which has huge implications across the board for the level of response required. But it's not unfair to consider the average Peurto Rican is 28x more able to prepare, endure, and contribute to recovery efforts than the average Haitian.
Also Peuro Rico has 10,000 local US National Guard which are not being counted in Atlantics figures. That means actual US troops in PR are roughly equivalent to Haiti deployment actually.
Other reports I've read are that USMS Comfort did not initially deploy because PR locals wanted field hospitals not ship-based. Not because the Federal gov decided themselves not to send it.
And finally - to lead with "Almost two weeks after the storm abated, most of the island’s residents still lack access to electricity and clean water." First of all it will be months before most residents have power, mostly because the pre-existing state of their grid. I've read it needs to be rebuilt entirely. Second, clearly there is access to potable water as you can't live this long without it, and NYT reports as of yesterday Oct 4 a total of 34 deaths attributed to Maria including 15 "indirect" deaths which occurred after the storm passed.
