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Fitial: Franks bill a real threat
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Posted on Nov 01 2000
House Speaker Benigno R. Fitial yesterday raised alarm anew on legislation in the U.S. Congress depriving the CNMI of its trade privileges, saying the islands face a “very real threat” of being defined as a foreign country under federal law.
The measure, known as the Franks bill or the “Made in the USA Label Defense Act,” would take away the CNMI’s duty free importation of goods to the mainland in addition to barring use of the “Made in USA” label despite the islands’ status as a United States territory.
In a statement, Mr. Fitial cited recent efforts as the latest evidence of the “increasingly desperate tactics being used to strong-arm this legislation in the waning days of the 106th Congress.”
A letter from United Food and Commercial Workers International Union President Douglas H. Dority was recently sent to members of the U.S. House of Representatives on behalf of the group’s 1.4 million members, he said.
Similar efforts by other large U.S. unions, a web site and a wide ranging public relations campaign have been applied to build political support for the Franks bill, according to the local House leader.
Mr. Dority has claimed more than 200 House members have now co-sponsored the bill, although Mr. Fitial said that it is still on the table as lawmakers are “feverishly trying to wrap up business and get on the campaign trail.”
He said this “last minute haste is extremely dangerous to the CNMI” as he noted that just a few days ago there was an effort to attach the bill to an appropriation measure which was headed off by prompt action of the CNMI’s lobbying firm in Washington.
“It’s not over until Congress goes home,” Mr. Fitial said in the statement, “and it’s impossible to exaggerate the threat this mean-spirited and misguided legislation poses to the CNMI.”
He maintained if the Franks bill becomes law despite overwhelming opposition from the CNMI and its backers in the nation’s capital, Resident Representative to Washington Juan N. Babauta “will have to explain why his priority was campaigning for votes on Saipan rather than fighting legislation… that threatens the best interests of the Commonwealth.”
