{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.warren.senate.gov/oversight/letters/senators-seek-expanded-investigation-of-waste-and-abuse-in-fema-contracts-for-puerto-rico-hurricane-recovery", "Senators Seek Expanded Investigation of Waste and Abuse in FEMA Contracts for Puerto Rico Hurricane Recovery", "2018-12-06", "2018", "2018-12", "Democrat", "House", "MA", "Elizabeth Warren", "W000817", "www.warren.senate.gov", null, null, "legacy", "December 06, 2018\n\t\t\t Senators Seek Expanded Investigation of Waste and Abuse in FEMA Contracts for Puerto Rico Hurricane Recovery \n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t \n\t\n\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n        \n\t\t\t\t Report Finds that Over 60% of Funds for Home Repair Program Spent on \"Overhead, Profit and Steep Markups\"\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\tWashington, DC - United States Senator Elizabeth Warren\r\n(D-Mass.), along with three Senate colleagues, today sent a letter to the\r\nDepartment of Homeland Security (DHS) Inspector General (IG) to request that the\r\nIG expand its ongoing investigation into the Federal Emergency Management\r\nAgency's (FEMA) contracting in Puerto Rico Hurricane Maria relief efforts to\r\ninclude new reports of waste and abuse associated with the contractors hired to\r\nexecute and manage the $1.2 billion Tu Hogar Renace program.The letter was also signed by Senators Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Bernie\r\nSanders (I-Vt.), and Richard Durbin (D-Ill.).In October 2017, FEMA announced the creation of the Tu Hogar Renace\r\n(Your Home Reborn) program in Puerto Rico, which provides temporary repairs to\r\ndamaged roofs, windows, doors, walls, and water heaters to \"return the\r\nhome to safe, habitable and functional conditions.\" Seven major\r\ncontractors were hired by the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)\r\nto conduct the repair work and two firms to manage the program.In their letter to the DHS IG, the senators expressed concern about a recent\r\nNew York Times report that \"more than 60 percent of what FEMA is\r\nspending in the program\" to repair up to 120,000 homes is not paying for\r\nthese repairs but is instead \"going toward overhead, profit and steep\r\nmarkups.\" The report also found that that while homeowners were approved\r\nfor \"up to $20,000 each in aid,\" a review of hundreds of invoices and\r\ncontracts indicates that-in nearly every case-they received less than half of\r\nthat.\"It is a significant concern that only a small percentage of taxpayer\r\nfunding went to actual home improvements for impacted Puerto Rican\r\nresidents,\" the senators wrote.The senators also expressed concern with FEMA's decision to award Tu\r\nHogar Renace contracts to two companies with connections to the Trump\r\nAdministration, Adjusters International and Excel Construction. In their\r\nletter, the senators noted that Daniel Craig, the owner of Adjusters\r\nInternational, was the Trump Administration's nominee to be deputy director of\r\nFEMA last year, and that Excel Construction, after donating $100,000 in 2016 to\r\nthe Trump Victory Committee, was one of the seven companies awarded a contract\r\nfor conducting repairs.\"This pattern of parties with significant connections with either the\r\nTrump campaign or Administration being awarded contracts warrants\r\nscrutiny,\" the senators continued.The senators requested that the DHS IG expand the scope of its current\r\ninvestigation on FEMA's award of contracts to include a determination of the\r\nprocurement, payment, and oversight of contractors and firms in the Tu\r\nHogar Renace program, and asked a series of questions about the timeline,\r\nprocurement and payment processes associated with the program.The letter is the senators' latest inquiry into FEMA's contracting process\r\nfor the relief and recovery efforts following Hurricane Maria. Last year,\r\nthe Senators called for an investigation of FEMA's decision to award\r\nover $30 million in contracts to Bronze Star LLC for temporary roofing\r\nmaterials in Puerto Rico that were never delivered. In February 2018, the\r\nsenators sent a second letter regarding the botched $156 million\r\ncontract awarded to Tribute Contracting LLC for emergency meals provided after\r\nthe hurricane, and in October 2018, Senators Blumenthal and Warren sent the DHS\r\nIG another letter regarding FEMA's awarding of contracts\r\nto companies with little or no experience in conducting the work assigned to\r\nthem.For more information about Senator Warren's work for Puerto Rico and the\r\nU.S. Virgin Islands since Hurricanes Irma and Maria, visit www.warren.senate.gov/puertorico. ###\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\n\t  \n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t \n\t\t\n\t\t\tPrint\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\tEmail\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\tTweet\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\t \n\t\n\t\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n    \n\t\n\t\n    \n    \n    \n    \t\n    \t\n\t    \t  \n\t\t    \n\t\t    \n\t\t    \tPrevious Article", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.warren.senate.gov/oversight/letters/senators-seek-expanded-investigation-of-waste-and-abuse-in-fema-contracts-for-puerto-rico-hurricane-recovery"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.7168810591101646, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}