Political Quotes

“Mr. Chair, I yield 5 minutes to the gentlewoman from Puerto Rico (Miss Gonzalez-Colon). Miss GONZALEZ-COLON of Puerto Rico. Mr. Chair, I thank the ranking member for yielding. Today, I rise in support of the Nutrition Assistance Program, or NAP, that is included in the bill under consideration today. NAP is the sole source of nutrition assistance and food security for over 1.3 million American citizens on the island. After Hurricane Maria, the 115th Congress approved an additional $1.27 billion increase in Puerto Rico's NAP program in addition to the annual block grant amount of about $1.8 billion, and that means that we helped a lot of people who have a lot of necessities. This disaster relief allowed an increase in the benefits for the current beneficiaries as well as an increased enrollment to bring assistance to close to 153,000 new participants in the program. However, this additional assistance is currently set to be expended in March of this year, and the program's funding would then be lowered again to the base amounts associated with the block grants. That is why, in May of last year, I submitted an amendment to H.R. 2, also known as the farm bill, to increase the amount of funding allotted to Puerto Rico's NAP. Then, in December, we got a letter and a meeting asking for the $600 million in additional NAP funding. During the first day of Congress, we did the same thing to both the Committees of Appropriations and Rules with the same request.…”