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Tenorio asked to attend DC meetings
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Posted on Feb 16 2006
Citing the government’s financial woes, Gov. Benigno R. Fitial has decided not to attend meetings in Washington, D.C. during the next two weeks.
Fitial informed Washington Rep. Pete A. Tenorio yesterday that he would not be flying to the nation’s capital to attend the winter meeting of the National Governors Association. The meeting is planned for Feb. 25-28, 2006.
He also designated Tenorio to represent the CNMI in a meeting between territorial governors and the U.S. Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources scheduled for March 1.
The meeting will be held at the request of congressional delegates from American Samoa, Guam, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The delegates have asked for an oversight hearing on economic, social, and health issues concerning the U.S. insular areas. The meeting was scheduled to coincide with the NGA meeting.
“Because of the current financial crisis…I will not be attending the upcoming NGA annual meeting,” Fitial told Tenorio.
The governor also said that he had not received an invitation the Senate Energy Committee meeting or hearing. But for the same reason as that for the NGA meeting, he will not be attending the Senate meeting.
“I cannot remove myself from the crisis we are now in. Therefore, this is where you are called upon to represent the CNMI at the Senate Energy Committee hearing,” Fitial said.
“This is what I meant when I said, ‘you take care of Washington, D.C.’ You were elected by the people of the CNMI to represent them in Washington, D.C. We are confident in your ability to represent the interest of the CNMI in Washington, D.C.,” he added.
Apart from the NGA and Senate committee, the Interagency Group on Insular Areas is also scheduled to convene on Feb. 21, 2006.
IGIA is a federal interagency group that President George W. Bush created in May 2003 to coordinate federal policy toward the U.S. insular areas, which are the CNMI, Guam, U.S. Virgin Islands, and American Samoa.
