Kilili casts first votes: more disaster aid

WASHINGTON, D.C.—Gregorio Kilili Camacho Sablan (Ind-MP) cast his first votes in the U.S. House of Representatives yestedrday in favor of a series of amendments to a disaster aid bill. Sablan had two amendments approved. One makes $36 million available for the Marianas Medicaid program this year. The second added $15 million for the Marianas food stamp program for a total of $25.2 million in disaster food aid.

This was Sablan’s first time to vote since 2010, when Democrats were last in the majority. Rules adopted by Democrats for the new Congress allow delegates and the resident commissioner of Puerto Rico to vote when a bill is being amended on the floor of the House, as the disaster aid bill was yesterday. Sablan also chaired part of the debate.

Over 50 members of Congress submitted amendments to the disaster supplemental appropriation, H.R. 268. But in a hearing on Tuesday the Rules Committee allowed only 15 amendments to go to the floor for debate and a vote. Two of the 15 were Sablan’s.

Sablan set out his goals for disaster assistance for the Marianas, above and beyond what the Federal Emergency Management Agency provides, in an eight-page letter to House and Senate appropriators in November. Republicans passed a disaster bill last Dec. 21 with much of what Sablan asked. Now that Democrats are in the majority Sablan has become even more involved in the specifics of the bill.

“The Republican bill provided no money for Medicaid for the Marianas,” Sablan said during debate on his amendment yesterday. The new Democratic chairman of the Committee, Nita Lowey of New York, corrected that by making $20 million available to the Marianas for this year in the bill she introduced on Jan. 8.

After the chairman introduced her bill, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services informed congressional appropriators that the Marianas could use $36 million in the aftermath of Typhoon Mangkhut and Super Typhoon Yutu. Sablan successfully added an additional $16 million to raise the total to that recommended amount.

Sablan also added $15 million for the Marianas food stamp program. The December bill had $9 million to cover the cost of the first 30 days of disaster food aid. And Lowey’s bill raised that to $10.2 million.

During yesterday’s floor debate, Sablan explained money was also needed to keep the program funded in the months ahead, when households that lost income because of the typhoons would be eligible for assistance.

“People need help until they can back on their feet,” Sablan said. “For some families it could be months before they are able to pay their bills and take care of themselves. I want to make sure there is plenty of federal money for food aid in 2019.”

The House-passed legislation now goes to the Senate for consideration. (PR)