Sablan, in an interview, said he and the other congressional delegates tried to amend the stimulus package to require that the funding for the insular areas be given to the Interior Department’s Office of Insular Affairs.
”We wanted OIA to have the money so that it would be easier for the insular areas to tap it, but of the 200 amendments proposed only 11 got in, and ours weren’t included,” said Sablan, Ind.-MP.
“But there is money for the insular areas — it’s for education, health, infrastructure, food stamps, Medicaid and for people with disabilities, among other things,” he added. “But instead of being in one pot, with OIA, it will be distributed among the different federal agencies.”
Sablan said he cannot provide a “break down” of the funding for each insular area, but he will disclose more details once the bill, which is now with the U.S. Senate, becomes law.
“The money that the CNMI will get under this two-year package is in addition to the federal grants we’re already receiving,” Sablan said.
Once the legislation becomes law, he added, CNMI agencies will obtain the funding from the various federal agencies.
“The additional funding for food stamps, for example, will come from [the U.S. Department of] Health and Human Services. The funds for education will be provided by [the U.S. Department of] Education,” Sablan said.
But this time, there will be no stimulus checks for individual taxpayers.
“They didn’t think that the first one worked,” Sablan said, referring to the federal government’s distribution of $168 billion in economic stimulus checks last year.
“No one in the nation will get checks under the new stimulus package, but it does provide additional tax breaks and [the CNMI Department of] Finance must discuss this with the [U.S.] Internal Revenue Service,” he added.
The CNMI’s first delegate to the U.S. Congress, Sablan said he is also working on several pieces of legislation he plans to introduce.
“I’ve two bills that we’re trying to clear through the system, and I think I’ve a good chance of getting one of them passed. I can’t discuss them right now because we’re still working on them,” he said.
