DCCA Secretary Melvin L.O. Faisao came up with his own analysis comparing the supplemental nutrition assistance program to the CNMI’s current foods stamp services.
In his letter to Senate President A. Manglona, Ind.-Rota, Faisao said DCCA’s nutrition assistance program “was instructed to remove the permanent residents, citizens of freely associated states, and spouses of U.S. citizens residing here for five years or more from being eligible for the program.”
Under the national SNAP, Faisao said legal immigrants are eligible to receive nutrition assistance. “This means that these people would be eligible to receive food stamp. Is this something we are willing to undertake?” he asked.
Faisao’s letter to the Senate was in response to the SNAP analysis that Congressman Gregorio Kilili Camacho Sablan submitted to the Senate last week.
He explained why the commonwealth is not ready to join the national SNAP which. Sablan and the CNMI Senate are currently working on right now.
Sablan’s analysis states that the CNMI’s inclusion in the national program would increase by $12 million to $24 million the total amount received by food stamp beneficiaries here. This, the analysis added, would result in $25.2 to $50.4 million economic impact annually and help increase government revenues by up to $5.04 million annually.
But Faisao said the CNMI government lacks funding to match the 50 percent of the administrative cost in joining the “enormously expensive” eligibility system of the national food stamp program.
“We are uncertain [as] to how and where to get the adequate local funding to support the implementation [of SNAP] at this time of economic challenge,” Faisao told Manglona.
But the analysis commissioned by Sablan in response to this concern also states that “the increased government revenues associated with the SNAP program would range from 3.3 times the additional cost at a low estimate to 7.75 times the additional cost at a high estimate.”
Also, the analysis stated that although the national SNAP does not require 30 percent purchase of locally produced products which would impact local farmers, “the overall economic impact would not be significantly affected by changes in the beneficiary purchasing habits.”
Imports, the analysis stated, would be subject to both excise taxes and the business gross revenue at the wholesale and retail level.
In a separate interview yesterday, Manglona said the Senate will act on Senate Bill 17-88 which authorizes the governor to seek inclusion of the CNMI into the national SNAP.
Introduced by Manglona himself, S.B. 17-88, if enacted into law, will allow Gov. Benigno R. Fitial to consult and cooperate with the U.S. Department of Agriculture for the implementation of the national food stamp program here.
