Senate passes resolution for 902 talks

The Senate passed yesterday a joint resolution that asks U.S. President Joe Biden and Gov. Arnold I. Palacios to consult on a number of subjects, as provided in Section 902 of the Covenant that established the CNMI’s relationship with the United States.

All six senators present at the session agreed to pass Senate Joint Resolution 23-05 that Senate president Edith E. DeLeon Guerrero recently introduced to set the ball rolling on the Covenant Consultations.

The resolution requests both U.S. and CNMI leaders to convene the 902 Consultations to discuss, negotiate, and address immigration and workforce issues, economic crisis, military expansion, transportation, and other pertinent critical issues affected the CNMI.

Article 9, Section 902 of the Covenant provides a mechanism for the CNMI and the U.S. to meet and discuss challenging issues affecting their relationship.

Sen. Jude U. Hofschneider (R-Tinian) said he appreciates that DeLeon Guerrero sponsored the resolution as it is time to bring issues that concern both the United States and the CNMI to the forefront.

As the heading of the resolution itself states, Hofschneider said, it speaks on a lot of issues in the CNMI.

Although the CNMI does have a representative—a non-voting delegate in the U.S. Congress—there is a segment in the CNMI Constitution, the Covenant 902, that is often put aside.

“We need to convene this more than ever now since…everybody knows in this chamber and everybody knows in the CNMI what’s going on,” the senator said.

Hofschneider said that for every time they try to stabilize the livelihood here, there’s a lot of contradiction or hindrance in the CNMI’s ability to do just that.