Pointing to findings they say will harm the CNMI\u2019s economy, Gov. Benigno R. Fitial and officials in his administration are blasting a report released yesterday by the Government Accountability Office that details several scenarios on the impact of the pending federal takeover of local immigration rules and includes projections that suggest it could slash the Commonwealth\u2019s gross domestic product by 50 percent or more. <\/p>\n
The GAO report recommends that federal agencies \u201cidentify an interagency process to jointly implement\u201d the new federalization law and that the agencies work together to \u201cdevelop strategies to obtain critical data on the CNMI labor market and foreign investment,\u201d which the Fitial administration views as an acknowledgement that federal authorities lack the necessary research to reach a sound regulatory decision on the issue.<\/p>\n
In a statement released Tuesday night, Fitial highlights the shortage of data in the report\u2014noted by GAO at several points in its text\u2014as a key factor and, in light of it, questions whether GAO\u2019s review was either necessary or useful. <\/p>\n
\u201c[T]he GAO concludes, even with the most favorable (and unrealistic) assumptions, that the law\u2019s implementation will most probably result in a 50 percent decline in the economic output of the Commonwealth by 2021 if not sooner,\u201d Fitial writes. \u201cIf this legislation had been considered on its merits by Congress in light of this GAO report, we cannot believe that the members would have decided to inflict this potentially devastating injury on the Commonwealth.\u201d<\/p>\n
Fitial adds that CNMI officials had previously urged GAO to subject the report to independent peer review but the agency declined. In addition, he notes that the local government is now crafting its own economic impact study of federalization. <\/p>\n
[B]Beneficial[\/B]<\/p>\n
Rep. Donna M. Christensen (D-VI), chairwoman of the Subcommittee on Insular Affairs, in a statement the same day welcomed the report and expressed optimism that federalization could prove beneficial to the CNMI.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am not surprised with GAO\u2019s findings with respect to the job of federal agencies in the coming months,\u201d Christensen said. \u201cThis transition can work and be beneficial to the CNMI economy and her people, but it will clearly need a collaborative effort from CNMI leadership and other stakeholders to be a success.\u201d<\/p>\n
President Bush earlier this year signed legislation federalizing the CNMI\u2019s immigration and foreign labor rules, a move that the Fitial administration and many local business leaders have said will likely devastate the economy. Proponents of the new law, however, say it will safeguard foreign workers against abuse and stabilize the CNMI\u2019s workforce. Federal officials are now crafting regulations to implement the new law, which are due to be proposed later this year. <\/p>\n
[B]Disturbing[\/B]<\/p>\n
GAO\u2019s recognition that federal authorities need more data for decision-making is disturbing given the ongoing effort to craft immigration rules for the CNMI, Howard Willens, the governor\u2019s legal counsel, said in an interview Tuesday<\/p>\n
\u201cThe report is disappointing in some of its limitations, disappointing in its timing and I wonder whether, given the fact that they don\u2019t really have any economic data with which to analyze the economic impact of the minimum wage and federal immigration laws and any other federal intervention here, they should have restrained themselves,\u201d he said. \u201cIt seems to me, if I was at one of the agencies writing the regs, I would want the data that GAO says they don\u2019t have.\u201d<\/p>\n
GAO\u2019s report, Willens added, could harm investor confidence in the CNMI\u2019s economy and foster insecurity among local businesses. However, it could also back the administration\u2019s case in a lawsuit it is poised to file against the federal government over federalization\u2019s impact. Lawyers retained by the governor\u2019s office, he added, have recently completed a draft complaint and the governor will soon issue a final decision on whether to pursue the case. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe report is relevant because what it does, even with all of its limitations, is basically support our conclusions with respect to the federalization law\u2019s deficiencies,\u201d Willens said. \u201cWhether deficiencies of this kind amount to a successful lawsuit is something else.\u201d<\/p>\n
[B]Severe harm[\/B]<\/p>\n
Chief among the report\u2019s faults, according to a July 9 response letter the administration sent to GAO on the report, is its assessment of federalization\u2019s projected impact on the GDP of the CNMI. The report suggests\u2014given the range of losses it details under several scenarios\u2014that the GDP of the CNMI could see a \u201c50-60 percent reduction\u201d by 2021, the government writes in its response. News of this could harm the CNMI\u2019s economy severely, it adds. <\/p>\n
\u201cThis confirmation by a prestigious federal agency of such a serious economic impact on the [CNMI] will have a devastating effect on our small islands, our businesses, our present and potential investors, our 30,000 United States citizens, and all of our residents,\u201d the response said, before requesting that GAO forego publishing the report.<\/p>\n
Yet GAO notes in the report that these findings represent \u201conly one possible outcome\u201d that involves \u201cthe steepest decline\u201d in the CNMI\u2019s foreign workforce of the possible scenarios presented. Other scenarios examined in the report could have a less serious economic impact, such as one projected to result in roughly a 15 to 36 percent GDP within the next 13 years.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe actual extent of the legislation\u2019s impact on the CNMI economy will depend on the key federal decisions related to foreign workers, tourists, and foreign investors identified in our report, as well as other factors in the economy,\u201d the report says. <\/p>\n
Among those decisions are the amount of permits for foreign workers federal officials will issue each year, whether to extend the permit program, which countries to include in visa waiver programs and how the new regulations will handle foreign investors, as noted in the report. <\/p>\n
Nevertheless, Willens said the Fitial administration now faces a serious challenge in addressing GAO\u2019s findings, adding that it will likely consult lawmakers in the near future on how to proceed.<\/p>\n
[B]Range of impacts[\/B]<\/p>\n
Federal Labor Ombudsman James Benedetto, however, had a less dire interpretation of the report, saying GAO\u2019s review merely analyzed a host of prospective outcomes the CNMI could see as it moves toward federalization. <\/p>\n
\u201cI believe that what GAO has done is simply listed options in the universe of possibilities and impacts, ranging from one end of the spectrum to another end of the spectrum,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
GAO officials could not be reached for comment on the report at press time.<\/p>\n
[B]ON THE NET[\/B]
\nhttp:\/\/www.gao.gov\/cgi-bin\/getrpt?GAO-08-791<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Pointing to findings they say will harm the CNMI\u2019s economy, Gov. Benigno R. Fitial and officials in his administration are blasting a report released yesterday by the Government Accountability Office that details several scenarios on the impact of the pending federal takeover of local immigration rules and includes projections that suggest it could slash the Commonwealth\u2019s gross domestic product by 50 percent or more. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-125042","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-local-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/125042","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=125042"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/125042\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=125042"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=125042"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=125042"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}