Reyes lets out steam vs. federal takeover

Apparently fed up with U.S. threats to strip CNMI authority over its labor and immigration standards, Rep. Karl T. Reyes yesterday challenged Washington to give them voting power in the Congress in exchange for the takeover plan.

“A lot of these politicians in the United States think that out here the people, because of the color, are brown niggers and they are very segregationist,” he said.

The representative was commenting on the spate of negative publicity about conditions in the island that have fueled attempts by the White House to take control of local immigration, minimum wage and customs.

“That’s one of the very agenda that they are promoting. They still feel the superiority complex,” Reyes explained. “Because of our low population here, they take us for granted. We don’t have a voice but they know it.”

The lawmaker claimed the package of legislation in Congress is a sign of “jealousy” on the island’s economic boom in the past which has allowed the CNMI to wean away from federal doleouts.

Reyes also lashed back at the critics of the Commonwealth, saying becoming an independent nation is one alternative that island leaders can pursue if the federal government continues to ignore calls for flexibility in handling the situation here.

“They should be happy that we don’t go after federal money.. The
minute they give you money and they don’t have the control, they don’t like that because they want you in their knees,” he said.

The CNMI government must emphasize this financial independence when local officials appear before the scheduled hearing in the Congress later this year on pending bills seeking federal takeover of the island.

“We should argue that because you can’t say that you have already proven yourself in taking care of any place if you are only going to make them dependent on the taxpayers’ dollars,” he said.

“I will not accept federal money as a handout just because I’m helpless over here. Why don’t they help us to improve ourselves so that we can take care of ourselves,” Reyes added.

At present, Washington provides construction grants amounting to $11 million annually to the CNMI under the Section 702 Covenant funding as well as other federal programs being implemented on the island.

According to Reyes, he is baffled about the real motive behind the federal plan. “I don’t what their agenda is… but I don’t blame them for doing this because if they can bomb and kill people in any place, they don’t see the value of human life.”