Per the Post, after the president got it into his head that Puerto Rico was using emergency money to pay off its debt, he told then-Chief of Staff John Kelly and then-Office of Management and Budget Director Mick Mulvaney that he “did not want a single dollar going to Puerto Rico,” and wanted to divert the island’s relief funds to Texas and Florida. “POTUS was not consolable about this,” a person familiar with the matter told the paper. This led to what was likely a deeply surreal moment for Patenaude, who reportedly had to explain to White House budget officials during a December meeting that the money for Puerto Rico had already been appropriated by Congress, and had to be used as intended. “Pam Patenaude showed the most commitment to Puerto Rico of any of the public officials inside the Trump administration,” Carlos Mercader, the executive director of the Puerto Rico Federal Affairs Administration in Washington, told the Post.

Understanding that she was one of the few people in the administration to actually give a s--t about what is, as a reminder, a U.S. territory, Patenaude is said to have waited until Puerto Rico received authorization to request future drawdowns for recovery before resigning. “She didn’t want to abandon Puerto Rico,” said a HUD official. “Once she felt like she left Puerto Rico in a good place, she felt like she could leave.” (In an interview, Patenaude denied that internal conflicts led her to quit, saying, “These jobs are all-consuming. There are no ulterior motives. I’m not mad at the administration.”)

Unfortunately, things aren’t exactly coming up roses for Puerto Rico, thanks to the president’s current and ongoing shutdown:

In December, HUD asked Puerto Rico to submit an amendment to the congressionally approved action plan on how the island’s government would use the money in order to proceed with the disbursement, Puerto Rico’s housing secretary, Fernando Gil Enseñat, told NBC News.

“HUD essentially wanted us to guarantee to them that at least $2.2 billion of the money would go specifically to fixing homes and infrastructure,” said Gil Enseñat.

Puerto Rico submitted the requested amendment on December 18, according to Gil Enseñat. Four days later, part of the federal government closed down—including the HUD offices in charge of reviewing and approving such amendments . . . As long as the government is paralyzed, so will [be] the disbursement of housing funds.

“Even if I have everything set up on my end, there are political processes in place,” Gil Enseñat told NBC News. “If I don’t have the approval, I can’t start executing.”

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