Young’s panel, legislators to meet

Members of the CNMI Legislature are set to meet today visiting Rep. Don Young (R-Alaska) and other delegates of the U.S. House Resources Committee to discuss labor and immigration issues in what local lawmakers consider critical in their efforts to thwart a federal takeover here.

The meeting is also a prelude to the scheduled travel of House Speaker Diego T. Benavente and Senate President Paul A. Manglona to Washington D.C. next week in yet another attempt to lobby U.S. Congress against the federalization plan.

Young, chair of the House Resources Committee which has jurisdiction over the Northern Marianas, along with 26 other participants, including seven U.S. lawmakers, arrives today for a three-day visit on Saipan as part of the tour of Micronesian region.

Local legislators are scheduled to host a luncheon meeting with the visiting congressional team in which they expect to raise issues on labor and immigration that have strained relations between CNMI and Washington in recent years.

They will also provide a progress report on ongoing reforms undertaken by the island government in the past few months, which they had promised to Young in their previous meetings.

According to Benavente, Young had recommended several reform measures, such as transferability of workers and creation of wage review board in the commonwealth, which the Tenorio administration implemented in the past few months.

“We have done a lot on what he had suggested,” he explained in an interview. “We will probably use the time with the Chairman (Young) to inform him of the progress we have made with regards to those issues and concerns.”

Young, whom Benavente refers as a “friend” of the CNMI, has advocated local solution to island problems.

“The chairman has made it very clear to us… that he wants to see local problems resolve with local solution. We are working on that commitment,” the Speaker said.

Manglona underscored the need to present to the delegation these reforms, saying the visit is a chance for the CNMI to refute alleged inadequacies of the government in addressing problems spawned by the large alien worker population here.

“This will present an opportunity for members… to further explain what’s going on around here,” he told in a separate interview. “We have been entertaining critical legislation, reform measures that we hope will address many of the issues.”

Young’s visit comes on the heels of the 902 consultation talks last month which bogged down after the CNMI government failed to persuade President Clinton’s special emissary, Edward B. Cohen, against stripping local authority on its labor and immigration.

The White House has vowed to propose new legislation in the Congress that will apply federal laws on CNMI immigration, customs and minimum wage standards — powers delegated to local officials under the Covenant.

“It’s still the most critical and most crucial event for the commonwealth at this time,” Benavente said. “One of our closest friends is visiting us and we need to show him that we have made progress.”