Gov. Arnold I. Palacios speaks during a press conference on Capital Hill.
GOVERNOR Arnold I. Palacios believes the U.S. Congress will approve his request to “repurpose” the unspent $414 million in pandemic funds for the CNMI’s economic recovery and development.
“I’d be very surprised if Congress says no,” Palacios told reporters on Friday. “Congress can do anything. They can introduce anything. It is a hard sell, but you are never going to get there if you don’t try.”
He added, “I’ve talked to many Republican congressmen and even senators, and [they] said, ‘Give us a listing.’ I gave that list to my congresswoman because she is the representative of the Commonwealth. I did not specifically give it to any other congressman.”
Palacios has asked the CNMI’s delegate to Congress, Kimberlyn King-Hinds, to introduce legislation that would reallocate the islands’ unspent Pandemic Unemployment Assistance and Federal Pandemic Unemployment Assistance funds.
He said he has not received an update yet from King-Hinds.
“She asked me initially if there’s anything that [she] can do when I was in Washington, D.C., and I said, ‘You know, we asked for this possibility of doing an offset using leftover federal pandemic unemployment funds…. We should ask if you can repurpose that for economic recovery and economic development to help fund employment opportunities in the private sector and tourism recovery in the private sector, and the hospital and schools.’ ”
Last year, in a letter to Palacios, the U.S. Department of Labor told the governor that it could not authorize the use of the remaining pandemic funds outside of their intended purpose.
For her part, King-Hinds told the governor in a letter that, although she would do her “due diligence and explore what options exist in Congress to fulfill” the governor’s over $400 million funding request, “I believe it is important that both you and the public understand the reality of the current federal fiscal climate.”
She said with “Washington actively working to cut $2 trillion in spending across all programs and agencies, securing an appropriation of this magnitude is not only highly unlikely, but also risks making the CNMI appear unserious about our own economic responsibility. We must be transparent with the public about the slim prospects for this effort.”
