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Kilili astonished over the US House’s 10-day recess without acting on raising debt ceiling
Gregorio Kilili C. Sablan
Delegate Gregorio Kilili C. Sablan (D-MP) has expressed astonishment at the 10-day recess the U.S. House of Representatives was taking without acting on raising the debt ceiling.
In a one-minute speech on the House floor last Friday, Sablan said if he has to go home and face 700 veterans and their families, their question is what is going to happen to their benefits.
“They have to take extra paperwork to get it and people would lose access to their food benefits, their health benefits. Teachers, firemen, first responders, police officers, these are individuals who [are going to] lose their access to the benefits that they usually get from either from Social Security, from their [Veterans Administration] checks and etc.,” he said.
Sablan told the House speaker that they should return to the House the following day and continue the work before them. “It’s too important to allow us to go home,” he said.
The delegate in his e-kilili newsletter on Saturday that, without legislative action, the U.S. government will be unable to pay its debts, perhaps as early as next Thursday.
Defaulting on the debt puts 3,500 Social Security recipients in the Marianas at risk, jeopardizes the CNMI’s 26,000 Medicare and Medicaid recipients, and would raise interest rates for anyone who buys a home or car or borrows to expand their business, Sablan said.
Sablan stated that the Republicans’ continuing inaction to raise the debt ceiling will have deeply damaging effects on Marianas residents.
