Delegate happy to hear from governor

U.S. Congresswoman Kimberlyn King-Hinds, in her latest weekly e-newsletter, said she was happy to receive a response from the governor, who provided her additional information about the projects mentioned in FEMA Regional 9 Administrator Robert Fenton’s letter regarding unused recovery funds.

She said she appreciates the open communication “as we work together to ensure these recovery dollars are protected,” adding that her office remains committed to assisting however “we can, to help the CNMI meet FEMA’s expectations and complete these much-needed projects.”

Last week, she shared with the governor updates from her meeting with Fenton, who told her that the CNMI government must show real progress by October 2025 or risk losing unspent recovery funds.

In a statement on Friday, the governor said his administration and the Public Assistance Office “are diligently and arduously working with subrecipients and on-island FEMA officials in pushing out these projects that were previously on hold pending FEMA’s approval on several time extension requests.”

“With that said, I find Administrator Fenton’s letter to be somewhat of a blessing in disguise in that stalled FEMA projects can now move forward expeditiously,” he added.