In a meeting held with Governor Arnold I. Palacios and Lt. Governor David M. Apatang, Honorable Carmen G. Cantor, Assistant Secretary for Insular and International Affairs, U.S. Department of the Interior confirmed $1.65 million in Compact Impact grant funding for the CNMI.
“Pursuant to Public Law 108-188 and calculated based on the corrected 2018 Estimates of Compact of Free Association Migrants conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) is allotted $1,652,879 in Compact Impact mandatory funding…” said Assistant Secretary Carmen G. Cantor in a letter she personally handed to Governor Palacios.
“I am pleased to award $1,652,879 for a general operations offset for the reimbursement of costs associated with providing education, health, and safety-related services to FAS citizens,” Assistant Secretary Cantor’s letter added.
In addition to the announcement of the Compact Impact funding, they discussed different topics such as the CNMI’s economic challenges, need for technical assistance, funding opportunities, and other matters.
“The U.S Department of Interior Office of Insular Affairs will be playing a pivotal role in the economic recovery and growth of the CNMI,” said Governor Arnold I. Palacios. “The meeting with Assistant Secretary Cantor was very productive and spurred other future collaborative discussions that focused on expanding assistance to the Commonwealth.”
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