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CNMI to see hike in food stamp funding
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Posted on Apr 16 2009
The Secretary of the U.S. Department of Agriculture has granted the CNMI’s request to increase food stamp benefits by 13. 6 percent—the nationwide level set under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
USDA Secretary Thomas Vilsask informed CNMI Rep. Gregorio “Kilili” Sablan of his decision in a recent letter. Both Sablan and local officials, including Commerce Secretary Michael Ada, have been pushing for the CNMI to receive the same benefits. Ada is tasked with spearheading the CNMI’s stimulus funding effort.
“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,” Sablan said in a statement. “And it’s an extra $1.45 million that can go into our local economy.”
Under the ARRA, both American Samoa and Puerto Rico received increases. The CNMI has a specific contract that is different from the Nutrition Assistance Program, Ada noted. However, American Samoa has the same contract and received the benefit increase, he said.
Sablan first contacted the USDA Secretary about the issue in February. Vilsask wrote to the CNMI congressman yesterday and said he would begin reprogramming the money for the CNMI’s increase. Sablan said he expects to see the increase by June.
More than 7,000 people in the CNMI use the food stamp program each day, and the USDA estimates that for every extra dollar of food stamps, it generates $1.84 in economic activity.
This is not the only time the CNMI has faced obstacles with ARRA funding. The CNMI’s situation is very unique, Ada said. For example, the Northern Marianas’ Department of Public Health is not Section 330 designated—the only U.S. jurisdiction lacking the designation, making it harder or sometimes impossible for the CNMI to get public health funding under the stimulus law.
