Puerto Rico Medicaid Funding Bill Advances, But Lawmakers Agree To Work On Safeguards In Wake Of Corruption Scandal

The Health Subcommittee sent the bill, which includes an additional $12 billion over four years for Puerto Rico, to the full House Committee on Energy and Commerce. Lawmakers said that there was no time to address the recent corruption scandal over a government employee allegedly stealing Medicaid dollars in the current bill, but that members will work to add oversight to the funding.

A bill that would give Puerto Rico a substantial boost in federal Medicaid funding advanced out of a U.S. House subcommittee on Thursday after lawmakers agreed to work on stricter safeguards for the money in the wake of a government corruption scandal in the island territory. The Health Subcommittee sent the legislation, which would give the bankrupt U.S. commonwealth an additional $12 billion over four years, to the full House Committee on Energy and Commerce. (7/11)

A corruption scandal in Puerto Rico is prompting fresh calls from Republican lawmakers to impose tighter constraints on federal spending for the island, intensifying a long-running political conflict in Washington over how to help it recover from a 2017 hurricane. (Stein and Dawsey, 6/11)

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