Miller comes to the aid of the CNMI

“There is an old saying that politics makes strange bed fellows, and I certainly believe it now,” said Pete A. Tenorio upon receiving a letter from U.S. Rep. George Miller.

Several months ago, the reauthorization of the Carl Perkins Vocational Education Act was introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives. It was referred to the House Education and Workforce Committee for review.

“Under normal circumstances, this would not have been a problem, except that Congress just last year reauthorized the Compacts of Free Association for the Republic of the Marshall Islands, and the Federated States of Micronesia. Changes in those Compacts led to changes in this particular education law,” explained Tenorio.

The Freely Associated States used to receive funds under the Carl Perkins Act through Pacific Resources for Education and Learning. With the changes to the Compacts, the funding for PREL was removed from the bill. This was a problem because the CNMI, Guam and American Samoa also received supplementary funds for vocational education through PREL.

“We were looking at a significant reduction in funding, which would be very bad for our students,” said Tenorio. “As a long shot, I appealed to Congressman Miller, who is the ranking minority member of the committee and as well as a vocal critic of the CNMI and our labor system, and asked that he assist us. I pointed out that we cannot reduce our dependence on nonresident workers and replace it with a skilled local workforce if our funding for vocational education is drastically reduced.”

“Congressman Miller, in a personal letter, has recently informed me that he and the committee chairman, John A Boehner, had reached a compromise. The CNMI is to receive a $140,000 increase in its base grant, and maintain its ability to receive supplementary funding, but no longer through PREL.”

“This demonstrates the necessity of bi-partisan support and communication. The CNMI has many friends in both the Republican and Democratic parties, and I don’t think we can discount the need for assistance from any member of Congress. Congressman Miller may never stop criticizing us, but as long as it is constructive criticism it will be helpful for our continuous improvement,” concluded Tenorio.