U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is asking about the unspent $21.7 million in Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act funds provided to the CNMI, U.S. Congressman Gregorio Kilili Camacho Sablan said in a letter to Gov. Ralph DLG Torres on Wednesday last week.
Kilili said Pelosi has brought to his attention “that you still have $21.7 million in Coronavirus Relief funds available.”
The funds will “expire” on Dec. 31, 2021, “and the [U.S. House] speaker has asked me for your plan of expenditure for these funds,” Kilili told the governor.
“It would be a tremendous loss to the Commonwealth if you were unable to spend all the relief aid Congress has provided you. In addition, future funding will be more difficult to obtain, if your government has a track record of not fully utilizing its money,” Kilili added.
The congressman noted that the CNMI was awarded $36.3 million in CARES Act funds, which could be used for unbudgeted expenditures incurred due to the Covid-19 public health emergency.
But as of Sept. 30, 2021, Kilili said the governor “had only spent $14.6 million or 40.2% of your original allotment, according to the data collected by the federal pandemic oversight agency.”
By comparison, Kilili said, the governor of Guam has spent all of Guam’s CARES Act fund allotments, and the governor of American Samoa has used 90% of its funds as of Sept. 30.
The CNMI is lagging behind, Kilili said.
“In reviewing that list of businesses and government agencies that shared in the $14.6 million that you spent, I do not find the Commonwealth Healthcare Corporation, which certainly had significant, unbudgeted expenses during the initial year of the pandemic,” Kilili said.
“The Public School System, too, would have significant, unexpected expenses as students and teachers transitioned to working from home during that period of time. Yet none of the $36.3 million at your disposal seems to have gone to education,” Kilili added.
Kilili asked the governor to provide him with an expenditure plan for the remaining $21.7 million in CARES Act fund, “so that I can provide information to the Speaker of the [U.S.] House and ensure in the future that this federal aid continues.”
