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‘Don’t count chickens yet’
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Posted on Apr 24 2006
Washington Rep. Pedro A. Tenorio has advised the Legislature not to count on getting an immediate response on the $140-million bailout package he had asked from the U.S. Congress.
Tenorio reported that he had been receiving positive feedback in Washington, D.C. on the requested funding for the operations of the CNMI government. But the Commonwealth needs to be patient.
“I will caution that we don’t count our chickens before they are hatched, as it will take a long time before the bills will actually become law, and it will probably be after the midterm elections,” Tenorio said in his speech before the Legislature Friday.
Tenorio’s request for the inclusion of CNMI in the fiscal year 2007 national appropriation is an unprecedented move. Only members of the U.S. Congress are supposed to submit funding packages to the various appropriations subcommittees.
Tenorio made the request as if he were a member of the U.S. Congress.
“I chose this route because there is no other feasible way that I can openly and frankly convey the problems that my constituents are facing. In my capacity as Resident Representative I have no rights to represent them before Congress,” he explained in a letter to Jerry Lewis, overall chairman of the Appropriations Committee.
On Friday, Tenorio said that some of the subcommittees had treated his requests as if they are a member’s requests, “not questioning my status.” He added that his follow up meetings had been very positive.
Included in the requests were $35 million for operations at the Departments of Health, Public Safety and Corrections; $5 million for PSS operations; and $2.3 million to operate the new prison.
Tenorio also asked for $17.5 million for utility fuel costs, $4 million for repairs and equipment replacement at the Commonwealth Health Center, $5.635 for school repairs, $25.5 to reconstruct the Tinian Harbor, and 16.2 million to reconfigure the Rota Harbor.
He also requested $2.3 million for the Kagman watershed project.
