CONGRESSIONAL OVERSIGHT Enforcement Of Federal Laws & Use of Funds
Washington, D.C. – Officials from the Northern Mariana Islands and Clinton Administration representatives from the Departments of Interior, Labor, Justice, and Treasury are scheduled to testify today at a Congressional oversight hearing focusing on the enforcement of federal laws and the use of federal funds in the U.S. territory.
The hearing by the U.S. House Committee on Resources, which has jurisdiction over U.S. territories, is scheduled to begin at 11 a.m. Thursday, September 16th, in 1324 Longworth HOB.
A live audio broadcast of the hearing will be available on the Committee website at: http://www.house.gov/resources/audio.htmhttp://www.house.gov/resources/audio.ht.
Focus Of Today’s Hearing
The oversight hearing will focus on the enforcement of federal laws and the use of federal funds in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) – particularly the effectiveness of millions of dollars of Department of the Interior funding that has been earmarked each year for the Clinton Administration to enforce federal laws in the Mariana Islands.
The Committee will consider labor, customs, and immigration management efforts by both the federal and CNMI governments and their effect on economic self-sufficiency in the islands, and the extent of the use of federal capital improvement grants by the CNMI.
Background On The Northern Mariana Islands
The Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands(CNMI) is America’s newest territory, part of the former United Nations Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands, which the United States administered after World War II. President Ronald Reagan extended United States citizenship to the residents of the CNMI on November 3, 1986, upon termination of the U.N. Trusteeship.
Virtually all federal laws apply to the Marianas, including wage, labor, safety, and equal employment opportunity. Congress expressly did not extend the Immigration and Naturalization Act, federal minimum wage, and the customs territory to give the Marianas greater flexibility in becoming economically self-sufficient. The application of federal laws are detailed in the Covenant establishing the legal framework for the new federal-territorial relationship which Congress approved in 1976.
In the 1980’s the CNMI began developing their economy through the tourist and textile industries. The growth in the economy and the increase of local revenues resulted in the decrease in the reliance of federal funds from 85% to 15% over several years. This shift in source of revenues was also a result of the end of federal grants for the operation of the CNMI government, and the overall reduction in the amount of grants for capital improvement projects. The CNMI also began to match the reduced federal capital grants.
Hearing Examines Allegations Of Problems In NMI
In the early 1990’s the federal Department of Labor cited a number of garment factories in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) with violations of federal wage and labor laws. In addition, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration began to cite businesses in the Marianas, including barracks for housing alien guest workers. This gave rise to articles in the national media about “slave labor” conditions in the non-union textile industry in the CNMI. The same articles used the below national federal Marianas minimum wage to support the allegation of unfair labor conditions in the garment factories, but without any substantial economic justification. Approximately half of the CNMI’s population (estimated at 60,000) are non-resident aliens.
The CNMI economy has been severely affected by the Asian economic turndown. The tourism industry has been drastically affected which has resulted in a 20% shortfall in CNMI local revenues. The textile industry continues to produce revenues to sustain the economy.
The Clinton Administration proposals and those of others in Congress to extend the federal national minimum wage to the CNMI, could devastate the economy of the CNMI. These proposed measures increase the minimum wage unilaterally for all industries, regardless of the economic capacity of the respective industries in absorb an increase. Other proposals would limit the access of textiles produced in the CNMI and shipped into the U.S. under trade provisions crafted to spur economic development in the territories.
Today’s Witness List
PANEL I:
Governor Pedro P. Tenorio, NMI Sen. Pres. Paul Manglona, Speaker Diego T. Benavente, Resident Rep. Juan Babauta.
PANEL II
Honorable John Berry, assistant secretary for Policy, Management and Budget, U.S. Department of the Interior: John R. Fraser, deputy administrator, Wage and Hour Division, Employment Standards Administration, U.S. Department of Labor; Donald K. Shruhan, Jr., executive director, Domestic Operations West, U.S. Customs Service, U.S. Department of the Treasury; Nicholas M. Gess, associate deputy Attorney General, U.S. Department of Justice; Lynn A. Knight, vice president, Saipan Chamber of Commerce, Saipan; Ronald D. Sablan, president, Hotel Association of the Northern Mariana Islands; Dr. Michael S. Teitelbaum, Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, New York.
PANEL III
Steven R. Galster, executive director, Global Survival Network, Washington, D.C.; Dr. Christian Wei, Ph.D., Christian Way Missions, Inc., Chinese for Christ International, Greenville, South Carolina; Nousher Jahedi, Washington, D.C.; Rev. Raymond Kinsella, Founder and President, Grace Christian Ministries, Saipan.
