E-Newsletter - Friday, February 12, 2010

In this issue:

• Territories must be included in new Senate jobs act

• New CNMI Office of Grants Management is an opportunity for partnership

• NMC Regent visits amid continuing accreditation concerns

• Vice President provides update on Recovery Act funding for the NMI

A blizzard in Washington caused the U.S. Office of Personnel Management to close all Federal offices from Monday through Thursday. Despite the hazardous conditions, however, the Northern Mariana Islands congressional office was open 3 out of 4 days. In fact, we had visitors from the Northern Marianas throughout the week. It’s important to remember that even if it’s snowing here, life is going on normally for our constituents at home — and we always have to be available and responsive.

Territories must be included in new Senate jobs act - In the House we passed jobs creation legislation before Christmas. Now the Senate is considering its own bill and, as is often the case, the U.S. territories have to watch carefully to be sure we are included in the benefits. Today, I signed off on a letter to Senator Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada and other members of the Senate leadership regarding Reid’s proposed HIRE Act (Hiring Incentives to Restore Employment). The centerpiece of the bill are two tax provisions to encourage employers to hire and keep new workers. The first provision exempts employers from paying social security tax for new workers who have been unemployed for more than 60 days. The second provision gives a $1,000 tax credit to employers who keep those new workers for a year. Good ideas – but not if the $1,000 comes out of much-needed CNMI tax revenues. Last year in the Recovery Act, the Make Work Pay tax credit (up to $400 for individuals, up to $800 for those filing jointly) included a cover-over of federal funds to the CNMI to pay for the impact. I want to make sure that the HIRE Act does the same thing, so private sector employers in the Northern Marianas are encouraged to open up new jobs without making it more difficult for the CNMI government to provide public services.

Members of the Army Corps of Engineers, Pacific Ocean Division in Fort Shafter, Hawaii visited the congressional office this week to discuss projects in the Northern Mariana Islands. From left to right: Executive Assistant James Proctor, Director of Programs Eugene Ban, Commander/General Mark Yenter, Honolulu District Commander LTC Jon Chytka, and Deputy District Engineer for Programs and Project Management Anthony Paresa

New CNMI Office of Grants Management is an opportunity for partnership – Governor Fitial recently signed into law the Grants Management Act, Public Law 16-48, creating a grants office intended to increase the flow of federal funds to the Commonwealth. This is an idea that has been a long time coming to reality; and I congratulate the Governor and the 16th Northern Marianas Legislature for this successful legislation. The congressional office is already involved in some of the duties spelled out for the new grants office in PL 16-48. So there are great opportunities for partnership, as I wrote to the Governor this week. As a regular practice the congressional office reviews new legislation to ensure that the NMI is eligible for any programs and receives a fair allocation of funding. Having the new grants office on the alert for this kind of problem can only increase our effectiveness on behalf of the people of the NMI. We also recently spotted a problem with the General Services Administration’s Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance website that makes it hard to find grants the NMI is eligible for. GSA acknowledged the problem and is rewriting the site code to fix it. If the new grants office finds similar problems, federal agencies are usually quite responsive if a congressional office asks for a fix. Members of Congress can also write letters of support for grant applications – something that applicants from the NMI might not think of, because we’ve never had representation in Congress before. I am looking forward to a strong working relationship with the new Office of Grants Management.

Northern Marianas College Regent Paz Younis visits the congressional office in Washington, D.C.

NMC Regent visits amid continuing accreditation concerns – Among the surprising number of visitors this week, who braved the blizzard conditions and were not deterred by the “Closed” sign the Federal government put up, was Northern Marianas College Regent Paz Younis. The “tropical” Northern Mariana Islands congressional office was one of the few that remained staffed despite the snow and I was glad of the opportunity to talk with Regent Younis in the quiet that prevailed throughout the Capitol. It has been very disappointing to hear that the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges is sending a visiting team to NMC, once again creating concern about accreditation. NMC has to be accredited for its students to get federal financial aid, so a threat to accreditation is a threat to each and every student’s ability to continue their education at NMC. I will certainly do whatever I can, as a Member of Congress and a member of the House Committee on Education and Labor, to make sure that we put “Students First.” But it isn’t just students who would be hurt if NMC loses its accreditation. The future of everyone in the Northern Mariana Islands is put at risk, if we do not have adequate educational opportunities for our people. I truly believe that our economic, social, and cultural well-being for decades into the future depends on the quality of education that we provide today.

Vice President provides update on Recovery Act funding for the NMI — Next week marks the one year anniversary of the enactment of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Some of my first votes in Congress were in support of the Recovery Act that has so far brought $80 milion in obligated federal funds to the Northern Mariana Islands. Hundreds of individual and familiy taxes have been reduced because of the Making Work Pay tax credit; and over 2,500 of our seniors received one-time payments of $250 to help them manage through the recession and help stimulate the local economy. I will be providing more detailed information to the press and the public about how the Recovery Act is benefitting us on the anniversary, but today I want to share with you a letter I received from Vice President Biden, who is heading up the Obama Administration’s recovery program. I certainly agree with the Vice President that much more remains to be done to get the nation — including the Northern Mariana Islands — back to economic health. But the Recovery Act has been and will continue to be an important government action to get us moving in the right direction again.

Highlights in the Legislative Program

THIS WEEK

Legislative business was suspended this week on account of inclement weather.

NEXT WEEK

The House will be in recess.