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Kilili: 8,500 expected to be eligible for LWA
Torres meets with Labor, Finance to push $7.7M LWA program
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Posted on Mar 29 2021
An estimated 8,500 individuals will now be eligible for additional cash assistance under the Lost Wages Assistance Program, according to Delegate Gregorio Kilili C. Sablan (Ind-MP) over the weekend.
This developed as Gov. Ralph DLG Torres disclosed last Friday that he met with Labor Secretary Vicky Benavente, governor’s representative Patrick Guerrero, and the Department of Finance as they will be moving to push the LWA program out as soon and as much as they can.
“That will be $300 more per week for those that are eligible. And that’s about $7.7 million being pushed out,” said the governor during his Friday radio news briefing.
Torres also lauded the CNMI being approved a 100% waiver for the LWA program’s matching fund requirement.
In his e-kilili newsletter, Sablan said President Joe Biden approved the CNMI’s request for a waiver of the local share of the LWA program for the unemployed in the Marianas.
Sablan said former president Donald Trump created the program administratively last year, after the Republican-controlled Senate refused to extend federal unemployment benefits nationwide.
He said the Commonwealth was unable to use the money, however, because it required a 25% local match. The delegate said Torres asked for a waiver and Trump would not provide it.
“So, $7,721,288 in federal funds sat idle,” said Sablan, adding that it was only when Biden approved Torres’ request that the funds became available.
Under the LWA program, the federal government will provide $300 per person per month as federal contribution to eligible claimants from the week of unemployment ending Aug. 1, 2020.
The LWA Program grants come from Federal Emergency Management Agency and its intended beneficiaries are workers who have had reduced hours due to the disruptions caused by COVID-19.
The same workers who received the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance program will also benefit from the LWA, according to Labor’s earlier announcement.
The CNMI was approved for $7.7 million for LWA last Sept. 16, 2020.
