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DOF working to push stimulus checks out by end of next week
Finance Secretary David DLG Atalig disclosed yesterday that they expect to get the $1,400 stimulus payments out by the end of next week or the first week of April.
In response to Saipan Tribune’s request for updates on the additional stimulus payments, Atalig said they should be getting the updated implementation plan from the U.S. Internal Revenue Service by the end of this week.
“Once we sign off on it, we would expect funds to be transferred to us within a week,” he said.
Atalig said they had a conference call with IRS yesterday morning about this matter.
Early this month, Gov. Ralph DLG Torres said that the administration is anxious to immediately release the $1,400 in additional stimulus check payment to taxpayers once the American Rescue Plan legislation is signed into law and funding is subsequently transferred to the CNMI.
President Joe Biden signed the $1.9-trillion relief bill last March 12. The American Rescue Plan extends federal unemployment assistance through August 2021, provides taxpayers with an additional $1,400 rebate, and keeps teachers and staff paid so schools remain open, among many other funding to various services and programs.
Delegate Gregorio Kilili C. Sablan (Ind-MP) earlier said the Rescue Plan reduces eligibility for the $1,400 rebate so no individual making more than $80,000 qualifies, a change that should have little impact in the Marianas, and excludes any increase in minimum wage.
Sablan said the estimated half-billion dollars coming to the Marianas as Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds could also be used for investments in water, sewer, or broadband infrastructure.
