Five members of the U.S. House of Representatives led by Homeland Security Appropriations Subcommittee chair Cong. David Price (D-NC) briefly visited Saipan from Saturday night to yesterday noon, which also gave the Saipan Chamber of Commerce a chance to bring up their request for the inclusion of Chinese and Russian tourists in the visa waiver program by Nov. 28, among other things.
The congressmen were on their way back to Washington, D.C. from stops in Asia when they refueled and spent the night on Saipan on Saturday, at the invitation of Delegate Gregorio “Kilili” C. Sablan.
Another congressional delegation will be visiting Saipan in the next few weeks.
“The discussion focused around the CNMI-Guam visa waiver program, and it gave us an opportunity to voice our issues to ensure Russians and Chinese are included in the program. They said they will look into our concerns,” Chamber president Jim Arenovski told Saipan Tribune.
Arenovski and DFS Galleria Saipan president Marian Aldan-Pierce met for one hour with Pierce and other visiting congressmen yesterday morning.
The meeting also touched on ensuring there's “no gap” between Nov. 28 when the transition to federal immigration begins and the time when the U.S. Department of Homeland Security makes determination that Chinese and Russians will be included in the visa waiver program.
Once the CNMI loses access to Russian and Chinese tourists, the CNMI would lose more than $100 million in the local economy, the Fitial administration had said.
Besides Price, the other visiting congressional members were Cong. Jim Cooper (D-TN), Cong. Bob Etheridge (D-NC), Cong. Phil Gingrey (R-GA), and Cong. Vern Buchanan (D-FL).
Gov. Benigno R. Fitial, in an interview on Saturday afternoon after the Liberation Day parade, said he's glad that the congressmen chose to come to Saipan.
He said he knew about the brief visit from Sablan, who was also at the parade festivities.
The governor said if he would have the chance to talk with the congressmen, he would also ask them to consider including Chinese and Russian tourists from the visa waiver program, citing their big contributions to the CNMI economy.
“Homeland Security is not giving us any information as to what we could do to continue to have this visa waiver for China and Russia. They know it is crucial to our economy so if we have an opportunity to meet with them, I'm going to ask them to please help us maintain the visa waiver for Russia and China. There are only two tests. Is Russia or China an economic benefit to the CNMI? The answer is yes. The second test is, 'Is Russia or China considered a national threat?' My response? Not to the CNMI,” Fitial said.
As of yesterday afternoon, there's no word from either Sablan or the administration whether the governor did, in fact, meet with Price and the other congressmen.
Brief visit
Before refueling on Saipan, the five congressmen had been to Mongolia, Indonesia, and East Timor during the congressional break last week. They are part of the House Democracy Assistance Commission, which offers advice and guidance to emerging democratic legislatures around the world.
Sablan, in a statement, said Price also invited him to go with the team on the trip to these countries.
“But I said no, because I have so few opportunities to be here in the Commonwealth, meeting with constituents. And I never miss the Liberation Day parade. However, I invited the chairman and the other members to stop here on Saipan on the return trip to Washington and meet with me while their plane refueled,” Sablan said.
He said this was the plan until about two weeks ago, when the flight crew on the military aircraft carrying the congressional delegation did their final calculations.
“It turned out that because of the headwinds this time of year and because of the rules regarding crew rest periods, it was necessary to spend the night on Saipan as well as refuel here. That's even better,” Sablan said.
Sablan had arranged for the five visiting congressmen and their spouses to tour some of the historic sites on Saipan on Sunday morning, before their plane departs for its next stop in Hawaii.
“I've also asked Chairman Price to have breakfast with Chamber of Commerce president Jim Arenovski and DFS executive Marian Aldan-Pierce,” said Sablan.
He said Price chairs the appropriations committee that oversees the Department of Homeland Security.
“So, he is the ideal person for our local business leaders to talk to about the transition to federal control of immigration, and especially the visa waiver issue. I am very pleased to have been able to arrange this important meeting. And I'm sure that Jim and Marian are the ideal people to explain the visa waiver program-and the importance of continuing to have Russian and Chinese tourists,” said Sablan.
In addition to the five members of Congress and their spouses, there were eight staffers of the Congressional Research Service and the House Democracy Assistance Commission (HDAC) with the congressional delegation.
Sablan himself participated in one of the HDAC missions. In May, he traveled to Haiti to discuss legislative procedure and the need for a strong institutionalized support staff with members of the parliament.
“Since I cannot go back to my district for the weekend as most congressmen do, I look for other opportunities to learn and to build relationships with other members of Congress. In fact, Rep. Price, who is the chairman of the House Democracy Assistance Commission, told me that his decision to stop over today in Saipan was because of my participation in the work in Haiti,” Sablan said in his statement.
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