On the recordNovember 3, 2017
I want to thank the ranking member for yielding. Mr. Speaker, as Puerto Rico struggles to recover from the historic damage of Hurricane Maria, this legislation shortchanges the island's long-struggling healthcare system at exactly the time that Puerto Rico most needs our help. This legislation provides a measly sum of Puerto Rico's Medicaid system. Even before Hurricane Maria made landfall, Speaker Ryan had committed to help resolve Puerto Rico's looming Medicaid crisis, yet this bill provides just $1 billion. We have no assurance or guarantee that the next emergency supplemental will provide appropriate funds to address this problem. The fact is that our fellow citizens have been shortchanged by the disparity in Medicaid funding. This forced the government of Puerto Rico to borrow money to provide healthcare. So if you wonder where Puerto Rico's financial crisis stems from, you can look right here at the U.S. Congress. Yet the amount included in this bill is far from sufficient to address even this year's shortfall. For the Puerto Rican people who have already suffered so much, this funding level amounts to an insult. If ever there were a time to channel aid to the island's healthcare system and fix the systemic problems that we sought in the system underfunding, this is it. The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Collins of Georgia). The time of the gentlewoman has expired.
