Kilili’s community project funding brings $27M to Marianas

Gregorio Kilili C. Sablan

President Joe Biden has signed into law the fiscal year 2023 spending bill containing $26,838,182 for 14 projects to improve quality of life on Rota, Tinian, and Saipan. The Commonwealth Department of Public Works, the Office of Transit Authority, the Commonwealth Healthcare Corp., Joeten-Kiyu Public Library, Northern Marianas College, the Commonwealth Utilities Corp., and the Public School System will all receive funding. The 2023 funding is a substantial increase over the $4.5 million Delegate Gregorio Kilili C. Sablan (D-MP) obtained in 2022, the first year in a decade that members of Congress were allowed to steer federal funds to hometown projects.

“This success was a partnership between the congressional office and the governmental and non-governmental organizations in the Marianas that asked me for this congressionally directed spending,” Sablan said.

“One reason we were able to increase funding as much as we did is that we put forward strong, well-justified proposals. And the appropriations committee, which makes the decision about what projects to fund, recognized the quality of those proposals.

“So, thanks to everyone who worked with me to bring this project funding to the Marianas.”

Congressional earmarks for projects in Members’ districts were once a regular feature of annual appropriations legislation. Republicans ended the practice in 2010, criticizing the spending as wasteful. In fact, Sablan’s earmark of $4,189,500 to expand parking at the Commonwealth Health Center was singled out as an example of wasteful spending in the 2023 bill by Republicans.

With Democrats in the majority in both the House and the Senate, congressionally directed funding was restarted in the fiscal 2022 spending bill. And many Republican Members of Congress walked away with substantial sums for their states and districts both in 2022 and now in 2023.

“What is important to understand is that for a small place like the Marianas, competing for federal funds through the normal grant process, is difficult,” said Sablan.

“Earmarks, like the $27 million in this year’s appropriation, are a way for Members of Congress to decide where funding is needed, rather than leaving those decisions in the hands of agency bureaucrats.

“Earmarks are an important tool for me to use to make sure the people I work for in the Marianas do not get left out.”

Sablan has already invited government and other non-profit groups in the Marianas to begin submitting project ideas to their congressional office to prepare for the fiscal 2024 round of funding. (PR)