Ex-governor lobbies against trade bill in U.S. Congress

Former Lt. Gov. Pete A. Tenorio yesterday asked U.S. House Speaker Dennis Hastert and leaders of the U.S. Congress to block the passage of a proposed legislation that will deny the CNMI of the privilege to use “Made in the USA” label and impose tariff on US-bound goods from the islands.

The bill authored by Rep. Bill Franks of New Jersey is considered unprecedented as no US territory has ever had its products become subject to a tariff just to gain entry into the United States.

Mr. Tenorio said the legislation will undermine one of the most important and fundamental economic provisions of the Covenant. If enacted into law, it will demonstrate very clearly a deliberate act of selective economic discrimination and an affront to the dignity of the people in the CNMI who continue to believe in the integrity of the United States, he added.

“The least we expect as Americans is to see the U.S. live up to its promises in the Covenant, and for a change, uphold its humanitarian principle by setting an example that indeed, in the U.S. charity begins at home,” he said.

The Covenant signed by the Commonwealth in political union with the United States, gave the CNMI privilege under Headnote 3A of the US Tariffs Schedule to import products to the US duty- and quota-free.

“If enacted, it will make a mockery of the American principle of justice and equality, and will force our people to seriously question the value of being Americans and the good faith assurances and promises embodied in our political agreement, the Covenant,” he said.

According to Mr. Tenorio, HR 222 is deliberately intended to single out and punish the CNMI’s economy and its citizens. “Such action by the United States Congress would clearly appear to all as a calculated and an arrogant display of insensitivity and discrimination. Such proposed plan should not be condoned; it is wrong, and it is un-American, especially since it is intended with malice, and with bigotry written all over it,” he added.

Stressing that it is an unfair and inappropriate legislation, Mr. Tenorio said the US Congress should not be used as a vehicle to destroy the livelihood of its very own citizens.

Due to the absence of representation in the US Congress, the CNMI’s future and the well-being of its people are at the mercy of the American administration and Congress. Mr. Tenorio is seeking Republican nomination for his candidacy as CNMI Representative to Washington in the November 2001 elections.

The defenseless and unrepresented US citizens of the CNMI do not deserve discriminatory and biased treatment from its own adopted parent, the United States of America. “We are part of America, but without representation in Congress, nor in the Executive Branch. For this reason, the government of the United States, including Congress should not arbitrarily make decisions which we are powerless to defend against, and especially decisions which will have permanent and irreversible negative impacts on the lives of our people,” he said.