{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["http://sablan.house.gov/press-release/comparing-federal-dollars-%E2%80%9Cother-territories%E2%80%9D-not-goal", "Comparing federal dollars to other territories is not the goal", "2014-09-12", "2014", "2014-09", "Independent", "Senate", "MP", "Gregorio Sablan", "S001177", "sablan.house.gov", null, null, "legacy", "Comparing federal dollars to \u201cother territories\u201d is not the goal                                           \n              Sep 12, 2014      \t\t        \t    \n      \t            \n                    \n                                            \n          \n        \n        \n            \n    \n  \n    \n    \n    A recent article in the Marianas Variety asks the question: which U.S. territories get more federal spending? I added my thoughts in a letter to the editor, pointing out that Guam gets $500 million in Defense Department spending every year \u2013 a level of military activity many of us would not want in the Northern Marianas. The Virgin Islands gets $200 million more in Social Security spending than we do because most people in the NMI never paid into Social Security. Setting those differences aside the Northern Marianas gets more per person from the federal government than Guam or the Virgin Islands. See the chart, above. The question I always ask, however, is how we compare, not to \u201cother territories,\u201d but to the rest of the United States. That\u2019s how I read Article VII of our Covenant \u2013 we should be \u201cpart of the American economic community\u201d \u2013 and that\u2019s my goal for the Northern Marianas: parity with U.S. states.\nThe Northern Marianas gets more federal funding per person than the Virgin Islands or Guam, when Social Security and military spending are taken out of the comparison.", 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": ["http://sablan.house.gov/press-release/comparing-federal-dollars-%E2%80%9Cother-territories%E2%80%9D-not-goal"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.507776090875268, "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"}