US lawmakers back $15M aid

Fourteen U.S. lawmakers have expressed their support for the CNMI and American Samoa’s aid request.

The lawmakers in a letter dated May 13, 2008, called on congressional leaders to approve an emergency supplemental appropriation of $15 million each for the Northern Marianas and American Samoa.

They said the funds “will serve as a fiscal bride to a sustainable future for American Samoa and CNMI, and … will save both economies from economic collapse.”

“We are requesting $15 million for each territory to use in assisting employers and employees, citizens and guest workers, and the local governments during this difficult and challenging period. These funds will maintain economic stability for the next year until such time as Congress reviews the economic impact of further increases in minimum wage,” said the group led by California Rep. Michael Honda and American Samoa Rep. Eni Faleomavaega, chair and vice chair of the Congressional Asian and Pacific American Caucus.

The Fitial administration welcomed the lawmakers’ petition. “We appreciate it, and we want to see more support for the islands,” said press secretary Charles P. Reyes Jr.

He also saw the congressional members’ move as a sign of what he described as the effectiveness of the lobbying firm, which the administration hired last month for $25,000 to push for the federal aid.

The original position of the CNMI and American Samoa governments was to oppose any further hikes to the local minimum wage, now at $3.55 an hour. Seeing that Congress would not amend the federal wage law, the two governments called for the federal aid which they said would cushion the impact of the wage increase on their economies.

The next 50-cent hike will apply on May 26, 2008. The minimum wage will increase yearly until it reaches the federal level of $7.25 an hour.

The U.S. lawmakers in their letter said they also prefer to delay minimum wage hikes in American Samoa and the CNMI from every year to every two years, and to allow increases only if the U.S. Labor secretary finds that they would not hurt employment in the islands. But congressional committees reviewing the proposal have come out publicly against it.

The Association of Pacific Island Legislatures has also adopted a resolution backing the CNMI and American Samoa’s request for a combined $30-million financial aid from the U.S. Congress.

“The funds will provide necessary support for the local economies during this period of economic crisis in each jurisdiction, and will create the base of information that will assist the Congress committees’ interest in helping these jurisdictions attain a greater degree of economic sustainability,” the APIL said.

American Samoa and the Northern Marianas plan to use the money to maintain public services, provide incentives to American Samoa’ tuna industry and the CNMI’s tourism industry, install fuel storage facilities, offer emergency financial relief to affected employers, supplement local Medicare caps, increase economic data collection, and conduct wage increase impact studies.