President Trump says Puerto Rico’s government has misused millions of dollars in disaster relief already sent to the storm-wracked island. Therefore, the U.S. government should not send them any more.

Puerto Rican officials say Trump is lying, and in fact much of the money Congress has already appropriated for the island’s recovery has never been released to them by the administration.

Sitting here in Southwest Georgia, we cannot tell you which if any of those statements are true. We read the news reports, hear the president on the TV and research the issue online. If there’s a straightforward accounting of federal disaster aid following Hurricanes Maria and Irma, we haven’t found it.

Yet this disagreement has blocked further disaster relief bills that would help our region to recover from Hurricane Michael and parts of the Midwest to recover from extensive flooding.

Puerto Rico — an American territory in the Caribbean Sea — was hit by back-to-back Category 5 hurricanes in 2017. Here’s a comparison that may put it in focus: When Hurricane Michael hit here, areas of Moultrie were without power for three days and some parts of the county a bit longer; it was 11 months before power was restored everywhere on Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria. Could you make it almost a year with no electricity? How would you do it?

Puerto Rico’s recovery was hampered first by the sheer scope of the devastation. People were left homeless, with no power, no food, no clean water — and it was everywhere. Port facilities and airports had to be repaired before they could be used.

The second problem was the island’s geography. If Georgia suffers a disaster, assistance can roll in from Florida, Alabama, Tennessee and both Carolinas by simply driving over an imaginary line, but that was impossible with Puerto Rico, surrounded by the sea. Relief supplies and volunteers had to be brought in by ship or flown in once facilities were opened back up.

The territory also suffered from laws that limited access to the island in ways that states on the mainland do not have to deal with.

Finally, though, the president’s allegations are based on at least a kernel of truth: Puerto Rican government has a history of corruption and mismanagement. The territory was considering the governmental version of bankruptcy prior to the disaster. An Associated Press story from July 2018 described leadership problems and $1 billion in unspent funds at the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority 10 months after Maria.

Now, Democrats in Congress insist on including more money for Puerto Rico in the bill that would help those impacted by more recent disasters. The president insists he won’t sign any bill that has further aid for the territory, and congressional Republicans refuse to forward a bill that doesn’t have an assurance Trump will sign it.

Congress will begin a two-week recess Monday. We can only hope that by the time they return to work, both sides can back off a little from their positions to find a solution for many Americans, both on the mainland and on Puerto Rico.