{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://sablan.house.gov/week-congress-july-31-2020", "THIS WEEK IN CONGRESS - July 31, 2020", "2020-08-03", "2020", "2020-08", "Democrat", "House", "MP", "Gregorio Sablan", "S001177", "sablan.house.gov", null, null, "legacy", "In this issue: \n Vets cemetery grant boost ok'd\n Making sure you can vote\n HEROES vs. HEALS? You decide\n Lift Medicaid cap in next relief bill\n Emergency funding for USCIS\n House approves more child care aid\n FY21 funding benefits Marianas\n Islands' Army Corps waiver upped\n $976k coral grant recommended\n Testing and training EIS signed\n CARES Act: PPP deadline 8/8; EIDL 12/31\n Deadline nears for permanent residence\n $366k for Finance building upgrades\n Telework update\n Kilili Time Capsule\n Opportunities\n  Legislative highlights\n__________________________________________________________\nVets cemetery grants boost ok'd\nOn Thursday, the House Veterans' Affairs Committee favorably reported my bill increasing federal maintenance funds available for the Marpi vets cemetery and others nationwide. With more veterans choosing burial near home, more state, territorial, and tribal governments in charge of cemeteries are faced with increased operations and maintenance costs. H.R. 5487, the Veterans Cemetery Grants Improvement Act, doubles the current grant limit of $5 million for these purposes. At the committee markup, I spoke about the challenges the Commonwealth faces in preventing the defacing of our veterans' final resting places. The bill, along with other measures to assist veterans, now goes to the full House for consideration. Watch the markup here.\nMaking sure you can vote\nBarriers to the ballot box in the U.S. territories was the subject of Tuesday's hearing by the House Subcommittee on Elections. I testified along with other Delegates and the Resident Commissioner of Puerto Rico. They spoke at length about voting rights  U.S. citizens living in the insular areas cannot vote for President and are not fully represented in Congress  I focused on making sure this November's election is not disrupted by the coronavirus. This week, the President threatened to delay elections; and Members of Congress on both sides of the aisle said that had never been done and the President had no such authority. In my testimony, I noted the November 2018 federal election in the Marianas was delayed by Governor Torres, because of Super Typhoon Yutu.\nFortunately, Congress has provided $1.2 million to the Commonwealth to make our election system more resilient this time around. Half the money was appropriated for FY20 in December and half in the CARES Act in March. I have asked Governor Torres for a full, public accounting of how that money is being used. I also asked the Subcommittee to take up my legislation extending all federal election laws to the Marianas and other territories, making it illegal to intimidate voters or use official authority to interfere in elections. Subcommittee Chair Marcia Fudge (D-Ohio) agreed to work with me on this issue.\nHEROES vs HEALS - you decide\nRepublicans have finally put forward their response to the HEROES Act the House passed in May to keep helping everyone get through the coronavirus crisis. Some key takeaways and contrasts between the House-passed bill, HEROES Act, and what Republicans call the HEALS Act.\n Unemployment..\nThe Republican HEALS Act proposal will cut Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation from $600 to $200 per week for workers laid off in the Marianas and around the country. The Democratic HEROES Act keeps FPUC at $600 at least through the end of January 2021. The HEALS Act also counts both the FPUC and the $345 per week Pandemic Unemployment Assistance, PUA, as income. That means the Republican proposal would disqualify some unemployed workers and their families from income-based Medicaid insurance and the Children's Health Insurance Program.\n More stimulus checks\nThe Democratic HEROES Act allows income tax payers to collect another $1,200 economic impact payment, whether they file using a Social Security number or the alternative Individual Tax Identification Number, or ITIN. The Republican HEALS Act bars those who use the ITIN. The Democratic HEROES Act also, retroactively, makes families with college students or adult dependents eligible for $500 for each of these dependents. The Republican HEROES Act does not.\n Schools\nTo get federal assistance under the Republican HEALS Act, kindergartens, elementary, and high schools would have to reopen fully, regardless of local conditions, putting the health of students, teachers, and staff at risk. The Republican bill offers $70 billion. The Democratic HEROES Act allows local authorities to run local schools and make reopening decisions. Together with school funding in the Moving Forward Act, H.R. 2, House Democrats have approved $200 billion to help the Marianas and schools nationwide keep teaching, one way or another, during the pandemic. The Democratic HEROES Act also provides $8 billion more for colleges than the Republican HEALS Act, which fails to extend the payment and interest moratorium for federal student loan borrowers, due to expire at the end of September.\n Aid to local government\nThe Democratic HEROES Act recognizes the huge hit to state and territorial government revenues, as long as the coronavirus is out of control. The Commonwealth would receive $2.14 billion in general revenues, one-quarter of which would keep schools in operation. Cuts to retirees and essential services could be restored. And the funds remain available until expended, which is necessary because our tourism-based economy is not likely to recover until visitors can be tested comfortably and quickly and there is renewed willingness to risk air travel. The Saipan, Tinian, Rota, and Northern Islands municipalities would share about $29 million in the HEROES Act. The Republican HEALS Act contains no money to replace lost state, territorial, or municipal revenues.\n Small Business                               \nSmall businesses would have less flexibility to stay afloat under the Republican HEALS Act. The Democratic HEROES Act extends the Paycheck Protection Program, which 476 Marianas businesses are participating in, to the end of 2020. And the HEROES Act gives these businesses 24 weeks to use PPP money (up from the original 8 weeks) and eliminates the requirement that 60 percent of PPP money go towards labor costs.\nLift Medicaid cap in next relief bill\nThe coronavirus crisis is only worsening the disparities in health care between regions and racial groups in our country. This week, I joined 36 of my House colleagues in a bicameral letter to leadership, asking that provisions of the Health Equity and Accountability Act (HEAA), which address those disparities, be included in the next coronavirus relief legislation. One provision, particularly important to the Marianas, is repeal of the cap on how much federal Medicaid assistance our area can receive. Medicaid is uncapped for U.S. states. I also have stand-alone legislation, lifting the cap, with 39 cosponsors. My Insular Area Medicaid Parity Act, H.R. 6495, gained the support of the Bipartisan Policy Center Action this week, which wrote:\nThese unprecedented times have clearly demonstrated that the health of all Americans is interconnected and that we must invest in building strong, resilient health care systems in every community  the Insular Area Medicaid Parity Act seeks to address that challenge, and we support its passage.\nEmergency funding for USCIS\nThe Trump administration has announced fee increases for CW-1 applications from $460 to $695 and for many other services the U.S. CItizenship and Immigration Services provides. USCIS is a fee-based agency and the pandemic has caused a sharp drop in applications and its revenues, the administration argues. That is why I joined 77 of my Democratic colleagues, urging House and Senate leaders to provide emergency funding for USCIS in the next coronavirus package. A direct appropriation may help keep fees from rising again. A direct appropriation in the next relief act will also keep USCIS from furloughing some 13,000 of its employees. That loss would delay processing of employment and family petitions and green card and refugee applications.\nHouse approves more child care aid \nThe Marianas received $3.25 million from the CARES Act Child Care and Development Block Grant to help working families and keep childcare providers operating. But more federal support is needed to keep care available and affordable. That's why the House on Wednesday passed the Child Care is Essential Act. I cosponsored the legislation, which sets up a $50 billion Child Care Stabilization Fund within the CCDBG program. Grants from the Stabilization Fund would help child care centers cover operating expenses, keep staff on the job, and provide tuition and copayment relief for working families. Learn more about the bill here.\nFY21 funding benefits Marianas\nToday, the House passed H.R. 7617, a minibus package of five FY 2021 spending bills: Defense, Energy-Water, Transportation-Housing, Labor-Health-Education and Financial Services-General Government. The bill now goes to the Senate for consideration. Some highlights benefitting the Marianas include:\n Bill language permitting the outlying areas to submit consolidated grant applications for the Adult, Dislocated Worker, and Youth formula grants from the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA).\n Title I-A schools grants, the biggest block of federal funding for the Marianas Public School System, go up $254 million. 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.\n Funding to support a 3 percent pay raise for service members\n$310 million for the Weatherization Assistance Program to help low-income families improve the energy efficiency of their homes.\nIslands' Army Corps waiver upped\nCost-share waivers for U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' projects in the Marianas will keep pace with inflation under a provision in the Water Resources Development Act (WRDA) of 2020 which passed the House on Wednesday by unanimous consent. The original Marianas waiver was set in 1986 at $200,000, but I was able to increase that to $455,000 in WRDA 2014, arguing the waiver needed to account for inflation. The inflation adjustment was renewed in WRDA 2018 totalling $484,000. Now, WRDA 2020 would mandate an annual adjustment, so the Marianas, American Samoa, Guam, Virgin Islands, and Native American Tribes would get a bigger waiver of the local cost-share every year. WRDA authorizes the Army Corps to carry out water resources development projects and studies, and provides policy direction for the Corps' civil works missions including navigation, flood and storm damage reduction, shoreline protection, and ecosystem restoration.\n$976k coral grant recommended\nThe Northern Marianas is the beneficiary of one of four proposals recommended to receive a new Ruth Gates Coral Restoration Innovation Grant, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced Wednesday. Johnston Applied Marine Sciences proposes to test a novel method to scale up coral restoration efforts through the outplanting of propagated juvenile corals in the Northern Mariana Islands. The three-year, $975,944 project will also build local capacity to implement coral sexual propagation methods as part of a broader restoration strategy in the Marianas. While the proposal has been recommended for funding, approval of the application and obligation of funds is not yet final. Funded projects aim to enhance coral resilience and improve the long-term success and efficiency of shallow-water coral reef restoration in a changing climate. Project funding is provided annually by Congress to the NOAA Coral Reef Conservation Program which received $29.5 million in FY2020.\nTesting and training EIS signed\nThe U.S. Navy has issued a Record of Decision for the Mariana Islands Testing and Training (MITT) Final Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement that assesses potential environmental impacts associated with ongoing military training and testing activities at sea and at Farallon de Medinilla. The Preferred Alternative will allow the military to continue conducting readiness activities within the Mariana Islands Range Complex, which covers readiness requirements into the foreseeable future, including adjustments to training and testing activities. The 2020 update is needed to support the Navy's request for federal regulatory permits and authorizations under the Marine Mammal Protection Act and the Endangered Species Act. The Record of Decision, Environmental Impact Statement, and supporting documents are available online at www.MITT-EIS.com. Printed copies are also available at the mayors' offices in Tinian, Rota, and Saipan for public viewing.\nPPP deadline 8/8; EIDL 12/31\nCongress has extended the deadline to apply for the Paycheck Protection Program to August 8. Funding remains available. Marianas financial institutions acting as lenders are listed here. Download an application here. Economic Injury Disaster Loans are, also, available through December 31. Download the EIDL application here.\n$366k for Finance building upgrades\n$366,000 in Capital Improvement Program funding initially obligated as local cost share for FEMA disaster assistance in response to Super Typhoon Yutu will now be used to improve CNMI Department of Finance facilities, the Office of Insular Affairs announced Thursday. On January 31, 2020, FEMA granted the Northern Marianas a full 100 percent federal cost share of total eligible costs for Hazard Mitigation Grant Program disaster assistance. This freed up the previously reserved matching funds which will now be used to repair and renovate Finance facilities to improve resilience against future typhoons. Funded building improvements include window and door replacements, new ADA-compliant restrooms, roof repairs, new plumbing, emergency lights, and replacement of electrical wiring and fixtures to comply with the latest National Electrical Code. Congress appropriates $27.72 million annually in mandatory Capital Improvement Project funds to address various infrastructure needs in the U.S. insular areas.\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\nLEGISLATIVE HIGHLIGHTS\nTHIS WEEK\n H.R. 7575 - Water Resources Development Act of 2020 (passed by voice vote)", 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-31-2020"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.9722201395779848, "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"}