Northern Marianas College President Galvin Deleon Guerrero, EdD, today released the following statement regarding the White House’s pause of federal funding:
As many of you have probably learned, the US Office of Management and Budget recently directed federal agencies to “temporarily pause all activities related to obligation or disbursement of all Federal financial assistance”. This announcement has caused considerable and understandable alarm in our community, particularly at Northern Marianas College.
However, please note that direct aid to students and individuals will NOT be affected.
As has been clarified by the White House, “[A]ny program that provides direct benefits to Americans is explicitly excluded from the pause and exempted from this review process. In addition to Social Security and Medicare, already explicitly excluded in the guidance, mandatory programs like Medicaid and [Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or] SNAP will continue without pause. Funds for small businesses, farmers, Pell grants, Head Start, rental assistance, and other similar programs will not be paused.”
Moreover, the College’s leadership is actively working with our local, regional, and national partners to monitor and assess this evolving situation in order to accurately determine possible impacts this and other executive actions may have on College programs and services. Armed with support from our partners and clear information from federal agencies, we will then develop efficient and effective response strategies.
I assure you that, in all of this, we remain vigilant and diligent in doing everything we can to continue serving our students, our College, and the CNMI.
Above all, despite all this uncertainty, we can find certainty in the resilience we have always had as a Proa Tribe and as a Commonwealth. No matter what has come our way–super typhoons, a global pandemic, or geopolitical forces beyond our control–nothing sinks our proa. We always sail ahead.
That is why I can confidently say: STAY SAFE, STAY CALM, and SAIL ON.