While it was it a natural disaster in the form of Hurricane Maria that devastated Puerto Rico, it is the Trump administration that is unnecessarily making the situation into a catastrophe. For nearly eight months after the storm, the island has experienced one setback after another—many of which have been the result of gross negligence, incompetence, and downright malice. And while they should be trying to make life better for residents of Puerto Rico, the administration is actively trying to make it worse, this time by cutting off access to telecommunications services.

As reported in The Hill, The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is opting to move ahead with changes to the Lifeline program.

The Lifeline program, created in 1985 during the Reagan administration, is the only federal program that helps connect poor and marginalized communities to telecommunications services. Lifeline provides access to affordable broadband and voice for nearly 13 million Americans by providing a modest subsidy of $9.25 a month to help ease the high-cost of communications for individuals and families living on the margins, providing a means to participate in our digital society.

If Trump’s FCC does implement these changes, it would mean that more than 369,000 Lifeline customers in Puerto Rico would lose access to affordable voice, wireless, and internet services. In 2017, prior to the hurricane season, more than 500,000 homes on the island participated in the Lifeline program. Though the administration thinks that these things are luxuries which can be commodified, they are actually an important part of how we live our lives daily. In today’s world, these services are necessary for communication with others, employment, education, etc. Additionally, people use them to maintain communication with health providers and emergency responders.

And the timing of this could not be any worse. As The Hill notes, Puerto Rico is still rebuilding after the destruction of the 2017 hurricane, and June 1 marks the start of the next hurricane season.