Puerto Rico Resident Commissioner Pablo José Hernández said Medicaid funding "has to pass" in Congress before the year ends as his top priority following the midterm elections, in an interview with Normando en la Mañana. He dismissed suggestions that Democratic sectors are courting the pro-independence faction of the Puerto Rican diaspora, saying New York elected officials commonly sympathize with the Puerto Rican Independence Party (PIP).
He said only 7 or 8 of 260 elected Democratic legislators belong to the Democratic Socialists of America, and of those only 3 or 4 have backed independence. "If anyone is worried about that, don’t worry," he said, adding the faction is too small to influence Congress on Puerto Rico. Hernández said the new Congress, after what he called a "blue tsunami," will focus on affordability and accountability: reversing Medicaid cuts and Obamacare changes he said drove premium increases (he said his own premiums rose about 30%), and addressing the war in Iran over its oil-price impact and corruption in the administration.
He ruled out a new impeachment process against President Donald Trump, citing the two prior attempts and the risk of reviving him, comparing it to the 1992 Cerro Maravilla hearings against Carlos Romero Barceló. He said he spoke with the incoming committee chair, who told him "we will get it done." He will also push SNAP in the Farm Bill, and said the governor is working with him but the Puerto Rico Legislature has not joined the effort.