Emergency Aid to American Survivors of the Haiti Earthquake Act

Mr. President, I join in today with my colleagues Senators Bill Nelson, Bob Menendez, George LeMieux, and Chuck Grassley in support of the Emergency Aid to American Survivors of the Haiti Earthquake Act. This bill will provide much-needed resources to the United States Repatriation Program, which is currently assisting U.S. citizens who are returning home from Haiti.

The United States Repatriation Program was established by title XI, section 1113 of the Social Security Act to provide temporary assistance to U.S. citizens and their dependents who have been identified by the Department of State as having returned, or been brought from a foreign country to the U.S. because of destitution, illness, war, threat of war, or a similar crisis.

The Department of Health and Human Services works with State and local governments to administer the Repatriation Program and provide vital services such as immediate medical care, temporary lodging and travel, and food assistance to returning Americans in need. The Federal Government reimburses States for the full cost of providing these services and individuals who receive aid are expected to repay it except in the case of extreme hardship.

The Repatriation Program is currently being used by the Department of Health and Human Services to provide assistance to citizens returning from Haiti as a result of last week's devastating earthquake.

But, funding for this important program is capped at $1 million per year, which will not cover the cost states have already incurred to provide support for the more than 14,000 Americans who have already returned from Haiti. And the State Department expects between 600 and 2,000 more Americans will continue to return from Haiti each day in the coming months. They too will need the vital services this program provides.

As a result, we have been asked by the Department of Health and Human Services to increase the cap for this fiscal year so that the program can continue to provide these vital services to Americans returning home from Haiti.

This bill will answer the Department's call for help by raising the cap for fiscal year 2010 to $25 million.

In the past Congress has passed similar measures to aid Americans returning home from abroad during times of crisis. In 2006, for example, Congress raised the $1 million annual limit to accommodate Americans returning home from the devastation in Lebanon. During the gulf war, the annual limit was waived entirely. These measures proved to be simple and successful solutions to help bring Americans home safely and give them the support they need to get back on their feet.

This bill is modeled closely off those measures and we have worked with the Department of Health and Human Services and other government agencies in creating this bill.

Additionally, this legislation will provide additional funding for the Qualified Individual Program, which pays the Medicare Part B premium costs for low-income seniors here at home.

Like the Repatriation Program, the Qualified Individual Program is also subject to annual spending caps. Without additional funding for 2010, this program will see shortfalls in approximately two dozen States.

This legislation will provide $65 million in additional funding for the Qualified Individual Program to ensure all States are able to provide this critical assistance to seniors this year.

The entire cost of this legislation, $60 million, is fully paid for through the Medicaid improvement fund.

This legislation is a reasonable and fiscally responsible solution that will allow these programs to meet their obligations to Americans in need. We urge the Senate to pass this bill and send it to the House for immediate consideration.

We should not allow these important resources to be denied or needlessly delayed.

Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

I rise in support of this Senate bill, S. 2949. As Representative McDermott described, it will provide assistance to thousands of Americans returning from Haiti following the devastating January 12 earthquake there.

Let me reiterate that we are helping American citizens with this legislation.

The bill, entitled Emergency Aid to American Survivors of the Haiti Earthquake Act, will ensure that State and local governments and charitable agencies on the ground in Florida, for example, and elsewhere have the resources to do exactly that.

Funding for those local efforts is provided through the Repatriation Program administered by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Each year, that program provides temporary assistance in the form of loans to U.S. citizens and their dependents arriving in the U.S. following an emergency. By law, currently the program is capped at $1 million per year.

This bill, which passed the Senate last night, temporarily increases that cap for 2010. As the legislation makes clear, and the Congressional Budget Office score confirms, this increase is entirely paid for by reducing spending in other areas. It does not raise the national debt.

This is similar to how Congress responded when demand for repatriation assistance swelled following the American evacuation of Lebanon in 2006. Congress stepped in to provide for the additional funds that were needed and paid for that additional funding through savings. That is the right approach. And, frankly, my constituents

would like to see this balanced budget approach applied across the board, not just to the smallest items.

For my part, I wish we were cutting funds in the bloated State Department budget to pay for this emergency. As I am sure my colleagues would agree, Congress should be looking for ways to save taxpayer dollars all the time, not just when new spending emergency needs come up. Unfortunately, since we are acting on a Senate bill, these concerns will have to wait for another day.

Before I yield, I would like to note the special importance this bill has for the State of Florida. Since so many of our returning citizens are arriving through my home State, I truly appreciate my colleagues supporting this bill and making sure that State and local agencies have the resources that they need to respond to this emergency.

The State Department suggests that there were approximately 45,000 U.S. citizens in Haiti and that they were there when the earthquake hit. As of yesterday, some 14,000 had already returned to the United States. I commend all the workers in Florida and across the country, whether with State or local government agencies, the Red Cross, our Armed Forces, or other agencies who are helping fellow citizens as they travel to their final destinations in the United States.

The House and Senate are to be commended for acting very quickly on this legislation. Passing the Emergency Aid to American Survivors of the Haiti Earthquake Act today is important to thousands of Americans who have been displaced and who need a helping hand to return home. I encourage support for this bill.

I reserve the balance of my time.

This legislation will ensure that American citizens returning from the devastation in Haiti in the days ahead will receive the same help and support as those who have already arrived and gotten their way home. It also will ensure that the many individuals hard at work assisting their fellow citizens will get the resources they need to continue these important efforts. I would ask my colleagues to join me in supporting this bill.

I yield back the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

I rise in strong support of the Emergency Aid to American Survivors of the Haiti Earthquake Act, or S. 2949, which passed the Senate last night with bipartisan support.

As my colleagues on the Ways and Means Committee have explained, this bill provides $25 million to enable the Secretary of HHS to reimburse States for the costs of providing temporary assistance to U.S. citizens who have returned from the catastrophe in Haiti without available resources.

I want to focus on the portion of the bill that provides temporary assistance for low-income Medicare beneficiaries under what is known as the Medicaid QI program.

Currently, Medicaid pays the Medicare part B premiums for low-income Medicare beneficiaries with incomes between 120 percent and 135 percent of the Federal poverty level. That translates to an income of between $13,000 and $14,600 per year.

Now, the monthly part B premium is $96.40 per month, or $1,157 per year. And this is 8 percent to 9 percent of the income of these low- income, elderly, and disabled Medicare beneficiaries. Obviously, having Medicaid pay this premium makes Medicare much more affordable for these people and eases their financial struggles.

This Medicaid payment comes from a fixed amount of funding for the QIs that is allocated among the States. According to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, that fund is about $65 million short for this calendar year 2010. When the fund runs out, States have the option of continuing to pay the part B premiums for this population with their own funds or simply stopping new enrollment.

One State, Arizona, has already announced that it is capping its QI program this week in response to an estimated $2.8 million shortfall in its allotment. The State is going to give public notice and then deny all new Arizona applications. This will affect approximately 175 Medicare beneficiaries in Arizona each month.

While no other State has yet to stop enrollment, there are 21 States in addition to Arizona that have projected shortfalls in their QI funding. That includes Alabama, Arkansas, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Mississippi, Nevada, New York, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, and Vermont.

By filling this $65 million national QI funding shortfall for this calendar year, this bill will allow Arizona to uncap its QI program and help the other 21 States avoid capping theirs. Tens of thousands of low-income Medicare beneficiaries all over the country will be able to receive assistance with their part B premiums.

Madam Speaker, let me stress that this bill is fully paid for. It withdraws $90 million from the Medicaid Improvement Fund to offset both the cost of the temporary assistance for U.S. citizens returning from Haiti and the cost of funding the QI program shortfall. In fact, CBO estimates that the legislation will actually reduce the deficit by $14 million. So I think overall this is very good legislation, very helpful to the States, and certainly significant for those who are returning from Haiti. And I would urge my colleagues to suspend the rules and pass S. 2949.

I reserve the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, I have no additional speakers. I urge passage of the legislation, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (S. 2949) to amend section 1113 of the Social Security Act to provide authority for increased fiscal year 2010 payments for temporary assistance to United States citizens returned from foreign countries, to provide necessary funding to avoid shortfalls in the Medicare cost- sharing program for low-income qualifying individuals, and for other purposes.

Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Pallone) be allowed to control 10 minutes of the time for debate on this bill.

Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on S. 2949.

Madam Speaker, 2 weeks ago, the largest earthquake ever recorded in Haiti wreaked havoc throughout the country.

Some of those affected by the devastation in Haiti are U.S. citizens who are now being evacuated back to the United States. We need to act today to continue a program that helps these Americans get back home.

The Repatriation Program provides assistance to U.S. citizens evacuating foreign countries due to a crisis by helping them secure and pay for connecting flights, temporary lodging, food, and medical assistance. Recipients of this assistance are expected to reimburse the government for such aid, unless repayment poses a significant hardship.

This program has an annual funding cap of only $1 million, which is far short of the funding needed to help all the U.S. citizens returning home. There were roughly 45,000 Americans living in Haiti when the earthquake hit, and over 14,000 have already been evacuated.

The bill before us increases the program's funding cap to $25 million for this year so that it can continue to serve U.S. citizens returning from Haiti.

It is worth noting that we have raised this program's annual funding cap in response to past international crises. Most recently, in 2006, Congress responded to a request from the Bush administration to increase the program's funding to help Americans evacuating Lebanon.

As sent over by the Senate, this bill also continues funding for another group of needy Americans, low-income senior citizens. A program known as QI that now helps Medicare beneficiaries with their part B premiums if their income is only slightly above the poverty line requires additional funding in order to continue to provide assistance to every State throughout the rest of the year. This legislation provides the necessary funding to address this shortfall and to ensure the program continues to operate.

The Congressional Budget Office reports that the cost of both of these provisions is fully offset by a reduction in the Medicaid Improvement Fund, which provides additional funding to HHS for program management.

In short, this bill helps people in great need of assistance without raising the deficit.

Madam Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this effort to help Americans evacuating from Haiti and to continue assistance to Medicare beneficiaries.

I reserve the balance of my time.

I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from New York (Mr. Rangel).

I urge the passage of S. 2949, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, I rise in support of S. 2949: The ``Emergency Aid to American Survivors of the Haiti Earthquake Act.'' This bill would provide up to $25 million in Fiscal Year 2010 for a Department of Health and Human Services program which repatriates U.S. citizens from foreign countries. This assistance is vital to Americans who were living in Haiti when the earthquake struck as well as the families of those displaced who are now faced with the unexpected responsibility of supporting their repatriating relatives.

This repatriation assistance provides temporary assistance to citizens and their dependents who are identified by the Department of State as needing to return from a foreign country to the U.S. but who do not have the resources to do so.

As you know, on Tuesday, January 12th, a massive, 7.0 magnitude earthquake struck Haiti near the capital of Port-au-Prince. There is still no official estimate of death or destruction but the damage to buildings is extensive and the number of injured or dead is estimated to be in the hundreds of thousands.

The full dimensions of the disaster are still unfolding, but Haiti's Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive told CNN that he believes there are well over 100,000 dead, and leading senator Youri Latortue estimated the number at possibly as high as 500,000, according the Associated Press.

America is responding, and will continue to respond with immediate humanitarian assistance to help the people of this struggling island nation rebuild their livelihoods. I send my condolences to the people and government of Haiti as they grieve once again in the aftermath of a natural disaster. As Haiti's neighbor, I believe it is the United States' responsibility to help Haiti recover, and build the capacity to mitigate against future disasters.

America and her allies have already initiated a comprehensive, interagency response to the earthquake. The State Department, Department of Defense, Department of Homeland Security, Coast Guard, USAID--all worked overnight to ensure critical resources were positioned to support the response and recovery effort, including efforts to find and assist American citizens in Haiti.

Within days of last week's devastating earthquake, U.S. Southern Command deployed a team of 30 people to Haiti to support U.S. relief efforts in the aftermath of one of the largest natural disasters in the western hemisphere. The team included U.S. military engineers, operational planners, and a command and control group and communication specialists arriving on two C-130 Hercules aircraft. Since, there has been a tremendous interagency response with support and partnering with U.S. Embassy personnel as well as Haitian, United Nations and international officials

to assess the situation and facilitate follow-on U.S. military support.

Our friends in the international community must also be commended for their efforts. The United Nations is releasing $10 million from its