Government

Bryan: Mapp Created the FEMA Debt Disaster and We're Trying to Fix it

Governor Albert Bryan during a brief interview Monday afternoon told the Consortium that the well over $100 million FEMA contends the territory owes the federal agency stem from lapses made during the Mapp administration following Hurricanes Irma and Maria's impact on the territory. Mr. Bryan's comments follow a Consortium report on the matter, which cites a Dec. 7 letter sent to Mr. Bryan from FEMA informing him that the V.I. government owed the federal government more than $134 million resulting from recovery work performed in the USVI. The letter says the $134 million debt resulted from "an overall lack of supporting documentation for transactions conducted by each of the applicants, as well as limited cases of ineligibility." Mr. Bryan sought to clear his administration from FEMA's claims of lack of supporting documentation and other irregularities. "This is from 2017 and 2018. This is what we're telling people in terms of the cleanup we've been having to do. The original was $27...