OF the $482 million in American Rescue Plan Act funding that the CNMI received from the federal government, the CNMI government has “committed” $348 million since last year, Finance Secretary David DLG Atalig told the House Ways and Means Committee during a budget hearing on Wednesday.
An update on the ARPA monies was the first thing the committee members wanted to hear from Atalig.
Present in the meeting were the committee chairman, Rep. Donald Manglona, the vice chair, Rep. Corina Magofna, and the members, Reps. Tina Sablan, Vicente Camacho, Richard Lizama, Patrick San Nicolas and Denita Yangetmai.
“As we all know, we received $481.8M from ARPA and of that, we have committed already about $348 million in different projects,” Atalig said. “These include what has been spent since half of the fiscal year 2021 as well as the entire current fiscal year for all government employees “to ensure that we get out of austerity.”
When asked by Manglona if lawmakers should anticipate from the governor a revised budget submission that includes ARPA funding, Atalig confirmed that the administration will submit a revised budget proposal for fiscal year 2023, which starts on Oct. 1, 2022.
When Rep. Tina Sablan mentioned that there was a delay in the transfer of ARPA funds to the Commonwealth Healthcare Corp., Atalig said he wasn’t aware of any delay.
He said his department has received requests for medical referral funds and ARPA monies. “We have been transferring some monies to CHCC,” he added. “We are in communication; in fact, we have also been helping out CHCC [with] their advance expenses for Covid-19 [for] which they have not received reimbursements yet. And so I’ve already transferred several million dollars to them.”
Atalig added that he works closely with CHCC Chief Executive Officer Esther Muna and Chief Financial Officer Perlie Santos.
Finance Secretary David DLG Atalit speaks to members of House Ways and Means Committee during a budget hearing on Wednesday in the House chamber.
