Speaker Tina Muna Barnes' request to Congressman Michael San Nicolas asking that he include Guam in an increase in SNAP benefits relative to the COVID-19 public health emergency has been denied by the delegate.

The Speaker had asked San Nicolas to try and get Guam included in a section of HR 6201 that would give $100 million in funding availability for Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program benefits to the US territories, but Guam wasn't in that section.

The delegate said the Speaker's request was "misguided and uninformed." adding "a basic understanding of federal law and policy" shows some territories are left out of federal assistance enabling laws, but that Guam and the US Virgin Islands' are already on par with the 50 states with SNAP funding levels. San Nicolas closed his letter saying the speaker's should ask his office "rather than assume what it is."