Governor Ralph DLG. Torres announced that $481,876,521 allocated to the CNMI from the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 for state, local, and tribal governments have been received by the Department of Finance on Monday afternoon.
The disbursement of the funding comes after the CNMI Department of Finance submitted its drawdown request last Tuesday to the US Department of the Treasury.
The funding authorized by ARPA was formally requested by the Torres-Palacios administration and provides emergency funding for the ongoing COVID-19 emergency, replenishes lost government revenue due to the pandemic, and brings back jobs lost during the pandemic within the CNMI Government.
In addition, funding has also been provided for capital projects, infrastructure improvement, additional rental assistance, and small business credit expansion.
Governor Torres and Lt. Governor Palacios will be meeting with Legislature leadership to discuss the further implementation of their spending plan.
“Lt. Governor Palacios and I thank our federal partners for working diligently with us in approving our implementation plan for this much needed funding for our people. We also thank Secretary of Finance David Atalig and his team for their work throughout this process. Among our priorities for our spending plan include keeping our government employees at 80 hours per pay period and ensuring our COVID-19 response remains successful. We will continue to work with our Legislature leadership as we implement this plan to help our community in need,” said Governor Torres.
More details to come.
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