THE House of Representatives on Tuesday adopted House Resolution 21-39 to express “strong support” for the passage of the updated version of the Health and Economic Recovery Omnibus Emergency Solutions Act or H.R. 8406 in the U.S. Congress.
House members confer during a break from the session on Tuesday.
Photo by Emmanuel T. Erediano
In June last year, the CNMI House adopted House Joint Resolution 21-10 supporting H.R. 6800, the earlier version of the HEROES Act.
Authored by House Minority Leader Tina Sablan, H.R. 21-39 states that the HEROES Act would allocate $1.02 billion to the CNMI.
This “would allow the Commonwealth to continue providing the full range of public services to the people of the Marianas at a time when local revenue estimates in fiscal year 2020 plunged from $233 million to $150 million, a drop of 35.5%, with little prospect of quick recovery,” the resolution stated.
It added that the HEROES Act would also provide an estimated $14 million to Rota, Tinian, Saipan and the Northern Islands to allow their municipal governments to continue providing essential services to the people of each municipality.
The HEROES Act would likewise provide a significant increase to the Nutrition Assistance Program in the amount of $14 million that will ensure that families in the CNMI remain in the program and their benefits will not be reduced.
The U.S. House of Representatives, which is controlled by the Democrats, has passed the bill but it remains pending in the Republican-led U.S. Senate.
