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CNMI prepares for Young visit
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Posted on Feb 01 1999
The Northern Marianas has begun preparations for the arrival of US Rep. Don Young (R-Alaska) and other key members of Congress on Saipan this month, a visit CNMI considers crucial in its effort to thwart fresh attempts of the White House to take over local labor and immigration.
Gov. Pedro P. Tenorio and the commonwealth’s representative to Washington, Juan N. Babauta, met last week to discuss possible issues the government will raise during the visit of Young, chair of the House Committee on Natural Resources.
“We should come up with recommendations, and work together with some of the issues that we are facing. We should be prepared,” the governor said in an interview over the weekend.
Tenorio declined specific issues he would discuss with Young, whose visit will be his second attempt after it was canceled early last year.
CNMI is badly seeking support from sympathetic Republicans, who dominate both chambers of Congress, in light of plans of federal officials to introduce a new legislation that will extend US laws on immigration and minimum wage to the commonwealth.
Talks between local and federal negotiators under the Section 902 of the Covenant collapsed last month after the two governments failed to bridge differences in addressing a host of problems arising from the Northern Marianas’ reliance on foreign workers, now numbering between 28,000 and 30,000.
Edward B. Cohen, President Bill Clinton’s special representative to the talks, stood firm of the need to put CNMI’s control on labor and immigration under federal authority, saying local efforts remain inadequate.
According to Clinton’s top aide, the new proposal will provide a transition period before applicable federal laws are extended to the commonwealth, as well as take into consideration the economic troubles confronting the island government.
But local officials vowed they would not accept anything less than the present status in fear such step would exacerbate the present economic crisis, the worst to hit the CNMI in years.
