Analysis: Inclusion in national food stamp program beneficial to CNMI

An analysis recently conducted by former Finance secretary Robert Schrack of RAS Consulting confirmed Delegate Gregorio Kilili Sablan’s (Ind-MP) previous statements that the CNMI’s inclusion in the national food stamp program would increase food stamp benefits by $12 million to $24 million.

But the Fitial administration, through the Department of Community and Cultural Affairs, has been opposed to the CNMI’s inclusion in the national food stamp program or the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, SNAP.

The administration had cited that under the SNAP, the CNMI is required to share one-half of the administrative costs.

Currently, these are entirely paid with federal grant funds.

The current administrative cost is $1.3 million. This means if the CNMI is included in SNAP, it has to shoulder $650,000 of the administrative costs.

But RAS Consulting said the $650,000 would be more than covered by additional tax revenue of $2.148 million to $5.04 million generated by the increased food sales and other economic activity resulting from inclusion in SNAP.

RAS Consulting also said inclusion in SNAP would also result in a total economic impact of $21.48 million to $42.96 million annually using the SNAP multiplier.

The current food stamp assistance block grant that the CNMI negotiates with the U.S. Department of Agriculture each year provides less than half the average benefit that those in need receive in Guam.

Unlike the CNMI, Guam is included in the national food stamp program called SNAP.

To illustrate: An average monthly food stamp benefit for a family of four in the CNMI is $302 a month.

In Guam, a family of four receives an average of $985 a month in food stamps. Nationally, the average monthly benefit for a family of four is $668.

Sablan wrote separately to acting governor Eloy S. Inos, Senate President Paul Manglona (Ind-Rota), House Speaker Eli Cabrera (R-Saipan), and other members of the CNMI Legislature to drum up support for the CNMI’s inclusion in the national food stamp program.

Manglona, in a phone interview, said the analysis made on the economic impact of being a part of the SNAP should be considered by the CNMI government.

The CNMI Senate president said his Senate Bill 17-88, which seeks CNMI inclusion in SNAP, will be acted on during the next session.

Sablan, in his letter to Inos, requested that the acting governor initiate a planning process with USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack to integrate the CNMI into the SNAP.

The delegate said while the CNMI has had some success in obtaining supplemental funding to add to the CNMI block grant—including an additional $1 million for the fiscal year 2012 block grant—these “ad hoc increases” provide “too little money and does not adjust to changing economic circumstances.”

“As a result, earlier this year, you were forced to reduce benefits to our people and even put some of those who were eligible on a waitlist,” Sablan told Inos.

Sablan introduced a bill, the AYUDA Act, which would put the CNMI into the SNAP, but he said there is a more direct route to this goal.

Public Law 96-597 provides the USDA secretary the authority to integrate the CNMI into the program, he said.

The delegate also said that the U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee in its recently adopted report on Fiscal 2012 appropriations for the Department of Agriculture has told the USDA secretary to use this authority and begin working with the CNMI on an integration plan.

“I would like to encourage you to seize the initiative now and contact Secretary Vilsack, expressing your willingness to proceed with planning. I stand ready to assist you in any way that I can to gain equal treatment for the people of the Northern Marianas who need food,” Sablan told Inos.

Sablan, in previous communications, said the Fitial administration should allow the local economy to get an additional $12 million to $24 million by fully supporting the CNMI’s inclusion in the national food stamp program.

But the administration had said it does not oppose getting more funds for nutrition assistance or food stamp but cannot immediately commit to any added costs without a thorough analysis of the program.