Murkowski codel arrives today

Lisa Murkowski

A congressional delegation led by U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) is scheduled to arrive today on Saipan in response to an invitation by Gov. Ralph DLG Torres to visit the CNMI and look at how the CNMI is transitioning to a U.S. workforce.

Murkowski, who also chairs the U.S. Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, led the bipartisan group that worked on the parameters of a bill that would extend the sunset provision of the CNMI’s foreign worker program from 2019 to 2029.

The congressional delegation, or codel, consists of eight members. It is composed of Murkowski; her husband Verne Martell; Joint Region Marianas Rear Adm. Shoshana Chatfield; Delegate Gregorio Kilili C, Sablan (Ind-MP); Delegate Aumua Amata C. Radewagen (R-AS); U.S. Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources senior republican counsel Isaac Edwards; committee staff Emy Lesofski; and U.S. Department of Defense’s commander Jeremy Lyon.

After arriving on Tinian from Guam, the codel would call on Tinian Mayor Joey Patrick San Nicolas and do a windshield tour of the island.

After the tour of Tinian, the codel will proceed to Saipan, where they would be in a closed lunch meeting hosted by Torres and attended by the Saipan Chamber of Commerce, with CNMI leadership as well as members of the CNMI business community. Following the lunch meeting, the codel would then go through another windshield tour of the island.

At 5:30pm today, the delegation would hold a traditional wreath-laying ceremony at the American Memorial Park Court of Honor. The event is open to the public and would be followed by a closed dinner reception to conclude the codel visit.

According to press secretary Kevin Bautista, only windshield tours would be conducted in order to accommodate the tight one-day-schedule of the codel and was determined appropriate by both the Governor’s Office as well as the Delegate’s Office.

Torres invited Murkowski to visit the CNMI last Feb. 28, 2018, to give her a chance to observe the challenges as well as take note of progress sustained since the CNMI-only Transitional Worker Program was created in 2010.

Torres confirmed in a social media post last March 16, 2018, that Murkowski had agreed to visit the CNMI. Information on the visit was withheld until the last-minute due to security concerns.