[I]Editor\u2019s Note: The following is the complete text of Gov. Benigno R. Fitial\u2019s statement following the issuance of the Government Accountability Office report on the possible impact of federalization on the Commonwealth.[\/I]<\/p>\n
\u201cAlthough GAO accepted some of our suggestions with respect to the draft report, the failure to produce the report before Congress acted on the legislation is very disappointing and the report\u2019s prediction of adverse impact on our economy as a result of the legislation is truly alarming.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn our Comments to the GAO regarding its draft report, we stated that publication of the report before Congress acted on Public Law 110-229 as originally requested by six Members of Congress might have served a useful purpose. Notwithstanding its many limitations, the GAO report documents the fundamental flaws in this legislation. The report repeatedly emphasizes the absence of the necessary economic data based on which the implementing agencies might fairly assess the impact of their decisions on the economy and people of the Commonwealth. The report illustrates the wide range of discretionary decisions entrusted by the Congress to the federal agencies in the absence of any detailed legislative criteria. Lastly, the 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 (or GDP) of the Commonwealth by 2021 if not sooner.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn our testimony before Congress in three committee hearings, the Commonwealth urged Congress to defer any final action on this legislation until the Members received a report from GAO. Six Members of Congress requested such a study in May 2007 to assist them in evaluating possible legislation. If 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. We believe that GAO\u2019s deference to Congressional staffers in changing the purpose of the requested report and delaying its publication raises serious questions about the independence and integrity of the agency.<\/p>\n
\u201cWith respect to the report\u2019s prediction of adverse impact on the CNMI economy, we urged GAO not to publish this economic analysis and its projection of serious adverse impact on our community. In light of the report\u2019s consistent \u2013 and accurate\u2014comments about the lack of reliable economic data, we are not convinced that GAO\u2019s analysis was either necessary or useful. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe urged GAO to subject its analysis to a meaningful peer review by professional economists before publishing it. They refused to subject their assessment to independent economists not employed by the agency, which is the essence of peer review. We do not believe that such a serious assessment of economic injury with respect to any city, county, or State in the United States would have been published by GAO or any federal agency without this kind of peer review. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe Commonwealth has currently engaged a team of economists to conduct a more detailed and professional assessment of the economic impact of recent federal legislation on the CNMI economy. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe urge the Members of the Legislature and all interested citizens in the Commonwealth to read the GAO report, to consider its implications, and to participate in further discussions about how best to deal with the issues raised by this legislation.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u201cAlthough GAO accepted some of our suggestions with respect to the draft report, the failure to produce the report before Congress acted on the legislation is very disappointing and the report\u2019s prediction of adverse impact on our economy as a result of the legislation is truly alarming.<\/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-125045","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\/125045","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=125045"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/125045\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=125045"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=125045"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=125045"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}