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Kilili joins call for restoration of $85M funding for US territories
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Posted on Nov 14 2011
By Haidee V. Eugenio
Reporter
Reporter
Delegate Gregorio Kilili C. Sablan (Ind-MP) joined 10 other members of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus in a push to restore to $85.195 million the funding for U.S. territories, including the technical assistance fund that the CNMI uses for the uniforms of its police officers, outreach and training for persons with disabilities, and books for public schools, among other things.
Sablan said the new Republican majority in the U.S House cut funding for territories this year, and he, along with other CAPAC members, wants those assistance to territories funds restored to $85.195 million that the previous Democratic House approved.
Others that were cut were funds used to support the Micronesian Legal Services, the Ayuda Network, Red Cross, and other important needs in the CNMI, Sablan said.
Sablan and other CAPAC members wrote a Nov. 8 letter to Sen. Patty Murray and Rep. Jeb Hensarling, co-chairs of the “Super Committee” or the Joint Committee on Deficit Reduction tasked with recommending at least $1.5 trillion in spending cuts over the next 10 years.
“CAPAC pointed out the disproportionately negative impact that cuts in health, housing, small business, and education funding will have on Asian American and Pacific Islanders. While I believe that our deficit must be reduced, we also must ensure that programs critical to the welfare of NMI residents are not detrimentally impacted,” Sablan said.
In the letter that CAPAC sent to the Super Committee, they said that the Asian American and Pacific Islander community is the fastest growing minority group in the U.S. based on the 2010 Census results and this group continues to face “tremendous unmet needs” and have been “traditionally and substantially underserved by federal programs.”
They asked the Super Committee to protect the territory’s business development and housing programs and critical education programs, preserve important help programs, protect civil rights enforcement, and preserve critical funding for U.S. territories.
