Congress asked for $140M NMI bailout

In an unprecedented move, Washington Rep. Pete A. Tenorio asked Congress on Thursday to appropriate $140 million for the operations of the CNMI government and some of its agencies.

In nine separate requests to five different U.S. House of Representatives Appropriations Subcommittees, Tenorio requested funding for governmental operations for the central government, the Public School System, and Corrections, repairs to the Commonwealth Health Center and 18 different public schools, as well as money for fuel for the Commonwealth Utilities Corp.

In addition, he requested money to close the Puerto Rico dump, build landfills on Rota and Tinian, add to the Marpi landfill, reconstruct the Tinian harbor, and reconfigure the Rota Harbor.

The requests are for the fiscal year 2007 national appropriation.

“I have been working closely with Governor [Benigno] Fitial, Tony Muna from the Office of Management and Budget, and CNMI Finance Secretary Eloy Inos to compile the list of greatest needs for the Commonwealth. I based my submission on this data as well as my testimony before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee earlier this month on the state of our economy and fiscal affairs,” explained Tenorio.

Normally, only members of Congress are allowed to submit appropriations requests to the subcommittees.

Tenorio said, though, that, “I felt that under the circumstances, with our economy in such bad shape, that I had to do this. I have written to Congressman Jerry Lewis, chairman of the Appropriations Committee, to explain that we do not have a Delegate yet in Congress, and that there was no other feasible way that I could openly and frankly convey the problems that my constituents are facing. I wasn’t able to ask for everything that we need, and it had to be packaged in the manner the subcommittees wanted.”

Included in the requests were $35 million for operations at the Departments of Health, Public Safety and Corrections; $5 million for PSS operations; and $2.3 million to operate the new prison.

Also included were $17.5 million for fuel for CUC, $4 million for repairs and equipment replacement at CHC, $5.635 for repairs at PSS schools, $25.5 to reconstruct the Tinian Harbor and 16.2 million to reconfigure the Rota Harbor. Tenorio also included $2.3 million to continue work on the Kagman Watershed project.

“I hope that no one expects to get all of this. They should certainly not be planning to spend any of it. We will be lucky if we get some assistance. Congress is trying to reduce federal spending and is proposing cutbacks in many federal programs. But I am going to try and get every penny I can. I begin meetings next week with subcommittee staff, and will be following up with members of Congress that have a history of supporting us. I will also be preparing testimony for the various budget hearings as they are scheduled,” said Tenorio.

“I will still be pushing for the amendment of HeadNote 3(a), and our Delegate. Certainly if Congress had acted on either of these two issues last year things would be better for us now. We warned Congress that failure to amend HeadNote 3(a) would lead to grave economic problems. These appropriations submissions support our warnings, and they will find out that we were not lying,” said Tenorio. (PR)