releases: https://sablan.house.gov/week-congress-august-28-2020
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| https://sablan.house.gov/week-congress-august-28-2020 | THIS WEEK IN CONGRESS - August 28, 2020 | 2020-08-31 | 2020 | 2020-08 | Democrat | House | MP | Gregorio Sablan | S001177 | sablan.house.gov | legacy | In this issue: Rota Park: Hfa siha hinason-mu 4,730 still waiting for PUA USCIS reconsiders touchback School reopens: leave clarification for parents $1m distributed to the Marianas Capital advance for the insular areas $250k for opioid response Telework update Kilili Time Capsule Opportunities Legislative highlights ___________________________________________________________________ Rota Park: Hfa siha hinason-mu The National Park Service preliminary report released yesterday that a Rota National Historical Park is both suitable and feasible, and is a post-COVID economic opportunity for the Marianas. But a park is only feasible with the partnership of the Commonwealth government, the Rota municipal government, and, especially, public agreement that this is the right step for Rota. The ancient Chamorro sites on Rota, the island's uniquely intact limestone forests, and historical artifacts of the Japanese colonial period are found nowhere else in the National Park system, the report says. It proposes three alternatives for a public discussion that will formally begin in September with virtual meetings and opportunities for written comment. After the public makes its views known, the Park Service will send a final report to the Secretary of the Interior, who will in turn make a recommendation to Congress. Only Congress can create a national park. 4,730 still waiting for PUA Despite authorization to spend over $2 million in federal funds to administer the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance and Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation programs, authorized by Congress in the CARES Act in March, the Commonwealth government has yet to process 4,730 applications out of the 8,312 received. I have again asked Governor Torres to do everything within his power to get this needed assistance to the thousands of Marianas workers, who have been jobless for months because of the coronavirus. The unemployment programs have already pumped $119,770,584 into the Marianas economy. That money helps keep businesses afloat and puts people back to work. USCIS reconsiders touchback CW-1 workers and their employers will not have to worry about the touchback provision of the U.S. Workforce Act this year, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services announced on Tuesday. Touchback, a minimum 30-day departure from the Commonwealth, is required by the Act after an employee has received three consecutive CW permits. USCIS had previously decided that prior years' permits would count against the three-year limit. This week, the agency reconsidered and said CW-1 petitions approved after June 17, 2020 would be considered the first of three. Given the difficulties of traveling safely in and out of the Marianas because of the pandemic, this is a practical decision and good news for CW-1 workers and their employers. We wrote the touchback provision into the U.S. Workforce Act, however, to open up opportunities for local workers. Delaying the application of touchback for another two years delays that help we wanted to give local workers. USCIS, also, still needs to rethink when the touchback is to occurduring the third year or after the third year. Senator Lisa Murkowski, Representatives Ral Grijalva and Rob Bishop, and I, whose working group drafted the U.S. Workforce Act have made clear we intended touchback to occur during the third year. We knew it would be economically disruptive for the Act to require the majority of workers to depart at almost the same time, after their third permit expired. Now that USCIS has decided it can be flexible on how it reads the touchback provision, I hope the agency will listen to the people who wrote the law on how it should be implemented. And I hope the extra training funds for local workers and the spending requirements we wrote into the US Workforce Act will be successfully put to use by the Commonwealth government. We need to stay focused on jobs for local workers, especially with so many laid off because of the coronavirus. School reopens: leave clarification for parents On August 19, I sent a letter to the U.S. Department of Labor (USDOL) requesting further clarification about when parents of school-aged children have a right to paid leave under the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA), with particular concern for parents who must care for children attending school on alternate day, remote-learning, or other hybrid-attendance bases. Since then, USDOL's Wage and Hour Division has updated their guidance. Parents will be considered eligible for leave only on the days that their child is required to attend class remotely. Read the updated guidance here. $1m distributed to the Marianas The Northern Marianas is receiving $1,005,119 in Maintenance Assistance Program (MAP) funds, Interior's Office of Insular Affairs announced. Grant funds will be used for the following four projects: $492,652 to the Department of Public Works for a stormwater sanitation system; $220,652 to the Department of Public Lands to install safety railings at the Maagaha Pier; $156,815 to the Rota Department of Fire & Emergency Medical Services for the purchase of a wildland firefighting brush truck and emergency diving equipment; and $135,000 to the Commonwealth Utilities Corporation for water and wastewater certification training. OIA also announced a MAP grant award of $246,050 to the Yap State Public Services Corporation for the Pacific Lineman Training Program to provide powerline operation and maintenance certification training to linemen from the Marianas, Guam, Marshall Islands, Palau, and the Federated States of Micronesia. Appropriated annually by Congress to be administered by OIA, the Maintenance Assistance Program promotes and develops institutions and capabilities that improve the operation and maintenance of infrastructure in the insular areas. The program was funded at $4.4 million for FY 2020. The Trump administration proposed cutting that to $1 million for FY 2021, but the House passed the Interior Department appropriation bill on July 10 maintaining the program at $4.4 million. Capital Advance for the Insular Areas I introduced H.R. 8116, the Insular Areas Liquidity Act which would require any department or agency rewarding a grant to any of the four smaller insular areas, to provide at least 50 percent of the award amount up front in an advance payment as defined in 2 CFR 200.3. My bill will also require the awarding department or agency to provide enhanced grant management assistance and technical assistance to the recipients. Grant recipients are often required to provide their own capital to fund projects and are reimbursed later. But in the insular areas, capital is already limited, even more so with the economic downturn caused by the coronavirus crisis. By providing an advanced payment of at least 50 percent, we will ensure that projects and programs would not be delayed, and that the entirety of any grant award will be spent. My insular area colleagues Mr. San Nicolas, Ms. Plaskett, and Radewagen signed on as original cosponsors of my bill. $250k for opioid response The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration announced the release of first year funds in the amount of $250,000 to the Marianas under the State Opioid Response (SOR) program. The Marianas was awarded this two-year grant to support the development of an opioid intervention program to prevent opioid abuse, improve access to treatment, and aid in patient recovery from opioid use disorders. OPPORTUNITIES Grants 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. Strengthening Community Colleges Training Grants LEGISLATIVE HIGHLIGHTS THISWEEK The House was in recess for the District Work Period. NEXTWEEK The House is in recess for the District Work Period. | 1 | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z |