{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://sablan.house.gov/week-congress-july-10-2020", "THIS WEEK IN CONGRESS - July 10, 2020", "2020-07-13", "2020", "2020-07", "Democrat", "House", "MP", "Gregorio Sablan", "S001177", "sablan.house.gov", null, null, "legacy", "In this issue: \n FY21: Governor gets loan request\n FY21: Energy, water money for the NMI\n FY21: Grant consolidation allowed\n FY21: More money for students/schools\n No to defund schools\n Reopening colleges during COVID-19\n Student visa restrictions opposed\n $375k for coral reef conservation\n Oversight: FEMA's typhoon response\n $2m for Judiciary building damage\n CARES Act: will FPUC end before it begins?\n CARES Act: 473 Marianas PPP loans\n VBA virtual interviews open\n Lack of guidance hurts veterans\n Info session scheduled on U.S. Workforce Act rule\n Permanent residence deadline: August 17\n Telework update\n Kilili Time Capsule\n Opportunities\n  Legislative highlights\n______________________________________________________________________\nFY21: Governor gets loan request\nAt a meeting on May 20, Governor Ralph Torres asked me for a change in the law, so the Commonwealth could borrow about $90 million through the Federal Emergency Management Administration's Community Disaster Loan program. I fulfilled that request with language in Section 312 of the FY21 appropriation for the Department of Homeland Security, released this week. Inclusion in the Democratic majority's base bill means the loan provision will pass in the House. So only an objection in the Republican Senate or from the President would kill the Governor's request. Current law allows municipalities to receive Community Disaster Loans, not a state-level government like the Commonwealth. Current law also caps the loans at $5 million. The language I had added to the appropriations bill removes those two barriers. The Commonwealth suffered significant lost revenues and increased operations expenses as a result of the back-to-back typhoons in 2018; and the loan is intended to cover that difference. My language also gives three years to apply, rather than the usual two, so the Commonwealth can reach back and claim the 2018 losses.\nFY21: Energy, water money for the NMI\nHighlights of the Interior and Environment funding bill include:\n Continuation of the 1.5 percent set-asides for the insular areas in Clean Water Act and Safe Drinking Water Act funds over the statutory set-asides of 0.25 and 0.33 percent, respectively. The increase, which I started during my first term in Congress, has resulted in $85 million for the Northern Marianas through FY 2020 and brought 24-hour water to most Saipan households.\n $2.76 billion for Clean Water and Drinking Water State Revolving Funds, equal to the FY 2020 level which brought $7.2 million for the Northern Mariana Islands\n $22.8 million for Office of Insular Affairs Technical Assistance grants, an increase of $2 million above the FY 2020 enacted level and $8.1 million above the President's budget request\n $12 million for the Energizing Insular Communities Program, $5.75 million above the FY20 level and $9.2 million above the budget request, to develop and implement action plans to help lower energy costs in the insular areas. Report language also directs Interior to improve reporting requirements of the program as prescribed in Public Law 113-235\n $4.38 million in Maintenance Assistance grants\n $3.5 million for the Brown Tree Snake Interdiction Program\n$2.6 million for the Coral Reef Initiative and Natural Resources Program\nFY21: Grant consolidation allowed\nThe Marianas, American Samoa, Guam, U.S. Virgin Islands, and the Republic of Palau could consolidate Adult, Dislocated Worker, and Youth formula grants they get from the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act thanks to language included at my request in the FY2021 Labor HHS-Education appropriation bill. All of the insular areas have limited human resources to administer grants. Giving the option to manage a number of small grants as one large grant would cut overhead costs and put more money to work helping those in need. The Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies Subcommittee voted on July 7 to approve the bill with my language. The full appropriations committee will consider it in the coming weeks.\nFY21: More money for students/schools\nTitle I-A schools grants go up $254 million in the fiscal year 2021 education appropriation approved Tuesday in subcommittee. Title I-A is the biggest block of federal funding for the Marianas Public School System and my top request to appropriators for the Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies funding bill. I revised the Title I-A funding formula in 2015 to increase the annual grant for PSS. As a result, this year our schools get $12 million; and that amount will go up again, when the $254 million nationwide increase is enacted. My requests to increase funding for special education under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, for Pell Grants, and Head Start were also included in the bill. Compared to last year, the bill raises IDEA funding by $208 million, maximum Pell grant awards to $6,495, and Head Start by $150 million.\nNo to defund schools\nThe Marianas Public School System is planning to implement a mix of learning settings with some onsite and some online instruction when school begins on September 8, I understand. But this week President Trump threatened to defund schools, unless they reopen completely, a loss of millions to PSS. In fact, Congress has granted the administration no authority to withhold Title 1-A grants or any other federal education funds from local school districts that are following the advice of health officials and the direction of Governors about how and when to safely reopen. As Chairman of the Subcommittee responsible for K-12 education nationwide, I will stand by local decision-makers. The next relief package Congress sends to the White House, which will have to include school funding, will also ensure this aid is delivered promptly and faithfully to our public schools.\nReopening colleges during COVID-19\nHow to reopen America's colleges in a way that keeps students and teachers safe was the question the Higher Education and Workforce Investment Subcommittee took up on Tuesday. We heard from Dr. Sharon Pierce, President of the Minneapolis Community and Technical College, who explained how CARES Act funds are helping students pay for housing, food, child care, and technology costs in the wake of the pandemic. She told me that more funding is needed to defray her school's costs to provide laptops, software licenses, and internet access for students who must now turn to online learning. One answer, of course, is for the Senate to pass the HEROES Act. That bill has over $10 billion for colleges to help cover the costs of distance learning, as well as expand relief for student loan borrowers. The House passed the HEROES Act in May. Also, testifying were Timothy P. White, Ph.D., Chancellor at California State University, and President Scott Pulsipher of Western Governors University. Watch the hearing here.\nStudent visa restrictions opposed\nThe Trump administration issued new rules on Monday for international students, such as those attending Northern Marianas College, that would force them to leave the U.S., if their courses are only online. These restrictions will put new financial burdens on colleges that count on the significant revenues that come from foreign students' tuition. Already, the State of California, Harvard University, and Massachusetts Institute of Technology have taken the matter to court. I have joined other House committee leaders in raising concerns to the Homeland Security Department about the financial consequences of the Trump rule. Read our letter here.\n$375k for coral reef conservation\nThe Division of Coastal Resources Management is receiving $375,309 of a larger $934,000 grant in continued Coral Reef Conservation Program funding to help administer the Commonwealth's Coral Reef Initiative, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced Thursday. Grant funds will be used to support jobs, increase community awareness through education and outreach, plan for restoration projects in priority watersheds, enhance management of Marine Protected Areas, monitor the health of the Marianas' coral reefs, and to support student internships in natural resource management agencies. Appropriated by Congress annually, Coral Reef Conservation Program funding helps protect, restore, and conserve our nation's coral reefs. Congratulations to DCRM.\nOversight: FEMA's typhoon response\nAs Vice Chair for Insular Affairs, I led the Committee on Natural Resources virtual forum Wednesday on the Federal Emergency Management Agency's response to Pacific Natural Disasters in 2018. Democratic Representatives Ed Case of Hawaii, Michael San Nicolas of Guam, Darren Soto of Florida, and I questioned Christopher Currie of the Government Accountability Office on GAO's preliminary findings on the federal response to Super Typhoons Yutu and Mangkhut, which struck the Northern Marianas and Guam, and Hurricane Lane and the Mount Kilauea eruptions in Hawai'i. Originally scheduled to appear, FEMA Region IX Administrator Bob Fenton cancelled his participation at the last minute. We required the review by GAO in the Additional Supplemental Appropriations for Disaster Relief Act, 2019 to ensure federal funds were spent effectively and are fully accounted for. FEMA obligated about $788 million in disaster assistance, as of May 2020, to the Marianas, Guam, and Hawaii for response and recovery efforts following the 2018 disasters, of which $593 million went to the Marianas. The forum can be viewed on YouTube here.\n$2m for Judiciary Building damage\nThe Federal Emergency Management Agency announced a $1,969,874.98 award to the Commonwealth Judiciary on Thursday. The money is to repair damage to the Saipan Judiciary Facility by Super Typhoon Yutu, including roofing, ceilings, walls, floor tile, carpets, lights, skylights, doors, windows, stucco, fencing and gates, exhaust fans, ducts, x-ray system, elevators and controls, HVAC systems, electric systems, interior safety glass, and nine vehicles. To mitigate future damage skylights in the building will be replaced with cast-in-place concrete roofs slabs. The grant covers 90% of the cost, as the federal share. FEMA obligates the funds to the Commonwealth government, which is then responsible for ensuring eligible subrecipients submit required documentation before receiving the award.\nCARES Act: Will FPUC end before it begins?\nIt has been 15 weeks since Congress passed the CARES Act; and the Commonwealth government has not begun to pay unemployment assistance to Marianas workers who are unable to work due to the coronavirus. Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation, created by the CARES Act, provides $600 weekly, but the program ends this month, leaving just Pandemic Unemployment Assistance of $345 weekly. That is a 63 percent cut. And, though both programs, when they eventually begin, are payable retroactively, losing $600 weekly will be hard for many unemployed in the Marianas. So, I joined my colleagues, Reps. Kildee (D-MI) and Davis (D-IL), in a letter to the President urging support for an extension of the FPUC program before its expiration. The Commonwealth government received an initial amount of $70,596,000 to pay unemployment benefits on June 5. $43,000,000 is specifically set aside for FPUC. The money is available now, the benefits need to be paid out. Marianas workers cannot wait any longer.\nCARES Act: 473 Marianas PPP loans\nThe Small Business Administration released the names of businesses and nonprofits nationwide that have received more than $150,000 in Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans. Fifty-five in the Marianas made the list. As of June 30, 473 PPP loans worth $39,333,708 have been okayed, altogether. In addition, 217 Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) loans worth $14,077,600 and 246 EIDL grant advances worth $1,183,000 were approved through July 3. Congress extended the PPP application deadline to August 8. And funding remains available for both programs to help with payroll and fixed expenses during the coronavirus crisis. To learn more, visit the SBA PPP website. Download a PPP application here. EIDL applications can be downloaded here; and a step-by-step guide on the application process can be viewed here. EIDL applications are due by December 31.\nLack of guidance hurts veterans\nThe Veterans Affairs Subcommittee on Disability and Memorial Affairs looked into how a lack of clear guidance on discharge determinations is putting veterans at risk. Veterans with Other-Than-Honorable discharge are barred from some service-connected benefits, but what those benefits will be is determined by the Veterans Administration. And there is a lack of formal guidance on how those determinations are made and even what kind of misconduct causes loss of eligibility. Many vets in this situation are at high risk for homelessness and suicide and are often found to suffer from PTSD and Military Sexual Trauma. Many also believe they are ineligible for VA benefits. That is why I asked VA officials at the hearing to improve training for VA staff that make the determinations and do more to let veterans know what their options are. You can view our exchange here.\nOPPORTUNITIES\nGrants\n A note to those receiving or applying for federal grants during the coronavirus crisis: The White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) may extend for up to 12 months certain grants set to expire between March 31 and December 31, 2020. OMB is also providing some deadline flexibility for grant applications. Check out these links for OMB's March 9 and March 17 memo on these extensions.\n Strengthening Community Colleges Training Grants\nPublic Comments\n Banking regulations\n Snail Conservation\n  Longline-caught bigeye tuna allocations\nLEGISLATIVE HIGHLIGHTS\nTHIS WEEK\nThis week has been Committee Work Week.\nNEXT WEEK\nThis week will be a Committee Work Week.", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://sablan.house.gov/week-congress-july-10-2020"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 2.366900211200118, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}