Babauta: Trip to DC very important

A trip to the nation’s capital by a sitting governor is very important, especially after the national elections, said Gov. Juan N. Babauta yesterday.

“What other people, including the media, don’t see is how important it is for the CNMI to touch base with people in the nation’s capital. They need to see us—they need to see who they are dealing with here. They need to be reminded of our situation here. There’s a need to touch base with them if we want to see greater cooperation with the federal government,” he said.

He said a visit to D.C. is most needed especially after the elections.

“There’s a changing of the guards, so to speak, and we need to keep tabs with what’s happening,” he said.

As a governor, he said, it is important that he knows the new heads of key departments which the CNMI would be dealing with.

Babauta arrived Sunday night from a weeklong trip to D.C.

Among others, he said that he met with key congressional leaders, including Reps. George Miller, Don Young, Dan Burton, and Sen. Daniel Akaka.

He said he updated Miller, a ranking member of the Committee on Education, Labor, and Workforce, on local issues affecting the labor and immigration, education, as well as tourism, and the garment industry.

He said he asked Miller’s support to include the CNMI in a special education bill that ensures that children with disabilities get the same opportunities as others.

He said Miller, a long-time critic of the CNMI, continues to support reform efforts in the labor and immigration in the Commonwealth. In particular, he said that Miller supports the CNMI entering into an enforcement memoranda with federal agencies in order to have a more sustained labor and immigration policy in the CNMI.

On tourism, he said he told the congressman that it would be necessary for the CNMI to control the incoming tourists from China in view of the CNMI’s Approved Destination Status.

Babauta said he briefed Miller on the expected decline of the garment industry.

“He [Miller] indicated that he realized that the CNMI is going to be challenged by the elimination of quotas in 2005, that the CNMI is definitely going to be hurt by this,” Babauta said.

The governor said he also met with ranking department officials including Insular Affairs Deputy Assistant Secretary David Cohen. He said he discussed tourism issues at length with Cohen.