“This is on average an extra $30 every month for the 2,600 families on Rota, Tinian, Saipan, and the Northern Islands who use food stamps to make sure they have enough food on the table,” said Sablan.
“And it’s an extra $1.45 million that can go into our local economy.”
Sablan received a letter from Vilsack yesterday informing him of the decision.
The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act signed by President Obama on Feb. 17, increased food stamps benefits nationwide by 13.6 percent.
However, the CNMI does not receive food stamps by law as the rest of the country. Instead the CNMI receives food stamps through a special negotiated agreement with the USDA. So the Northern Marianas were left out of the increase in the stimulus bill.
Within a month of taking office Sablan had spotted the problem. And on Feb. 10 — a week before the stimulus bill was signed into law — he contacted Vilsack requesting that people in the CNMI receive the same 13.6 percent increase as food stamp recipients everywhere else in the country.
After two months of continuing effort by Sablan, Vilsask informed him that the USDA has begun the process of reprogramming money for the increase for the CNMI.
“I appreciate your concern for the people in need in CNMI. I am also concerned about meeting the nutrition needs of all low-income people affected by these difficult economic times,” Vilsack wrote, explaining the reason for his decision.
“The secretary now has to inform the appropriate congressional committees that he will be reprogramming the funds, which may take a few more weeks,” said Sablan.
“But I do expect that the increase will be available to food stamp recipients by June.”
This is good news for over 7,000 people in the Northern Marianas who have more to eat each day because of the food stamp program.
And it’s good news for the CNMI economy. USDA estimates that every extra dollar of food stamp spending generates $1.84 in economic activity.
When a family uses food stamps at a local grocery store, the grocery story can hire workers and buy more from suppliers. That helps those workers buy more in the local economy. That helps suppliers pay their employees — at the warehouse, driving delivery trucks.
Sablan said he wants to thank Vilsack for understanding the importance of making sure that people in the Northern Marianas are treated fairly and given the same benefit increase as food stamp recipients in the rest of the United States.
