Delegate Gregorio Kilili C. Sablan (Ind-MP) has reached out to Gov. Ralph DLG Torres for them to jointly ask the U.S. Congress for special disaster assistance. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe Appropriations Committee is most responsive when requests for assistance are the product of cooperation and agreement between the Office of the Governor and the congressional delegation,\u201d Sablan told Torres Sunday. \u201cBecause Congress will immediately reconvene next week, I will be returning then to make sure the Marianas obtains the funding assistance we need for our recovery. Being able to say that I speak in agreement with the governor will make that effort much more likely to succeed.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sablan said that congressional appropriators are already working on funding for disaster relief in the wake of hurricanes Florence and Michael, which struck the eastern U.S. a few weeks ago, and Super Typhoon Yutu. <\/p>\n
\u201cI have already spoken to appropriators about the possible need to provide supplemental Medicaid funding to the Marianas under terms similar to those that were extended to Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands during their recovery from hurricanes last year. <\/p>\n
\u201cI have also communicated to the committees responsible for food assistance,\u201d Sablan told Torres. \u201cThe Commonwealth has not yet announced that disaster food assistance will be available for Tinian and Saipan, as it was after Typhoon Soudelor and as it is now for Rota after Typhoon Mangkhut. I understand, however, that you are in the process of preparing to provide such aid to the families ordinarily eligible, as well as to those whose incomes have been temporarily interrupted and whose household food supplies were lost in Yutu.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Federal Emergency Management Agency has authority to provide help to individuals and households after a natural disaster. The agency also assists state and territorial governments rebuild water and power systems and other public infrastructure. After Typhoon Soudelor FEMA gave out $37 million for individual assistance and $39 million for infrastructure. Another $10 million has gone for hazard mitigation grants to harden the Commonwealth\u2019s water and power systems to withstand typhoons.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Commonwealth was already facing the end of the Medicaid funding I got for us in the Affordable Care Act,\u201d said Sablan, \u201cand the extra food stamp money I put into the Agricultural Act of 2014 was supposed to be dedicated to making more families eligible.<\/p>\n
\u201cYutu recovery will drain those available funds and we need to replace the money. FEMA\u2019s Disaster Recovery Fund cannot do that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sablan asked the governor to work with him \u201cto assess what assistance is needed for the Marianas, above and beyond what can be provided through the Federal Emergency Management Agency\u2019s Disaster Relief Fund, and to estimate what the costs of such additional assistance may be.\u201d<\/p>\n
Among the programs that may need special Yutu-related funds are Project SERV grants. The School Emergency Response to Violence program was recommended to Sablan by U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos in their phone call last Wednesday. The Education Department administers Project SERV grants. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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