Working for success stories in the CNMI

By PEDRO A. TENORIO

The following is the inaugural speech that Washington Rep. Pete A. Tenorio delivered after being sworn into office on Jan. 9, 2006, at the Marianas High School gymnasium.

Several months ago, we were a divided people. We were divided by our differences in our choices for our elected officials, and in our beliefs of what we want our Commonwealth to be in the future.

We identified our political preferences by the colors: Red, Blue, Yellow, and Green. There were nice songs composed for each of the gubernatorial teams, and they even had nice catchy political slogans to go with the colors of their choice: Yellow to continue to “Make things happen”; Blue to “Move us forward, and have Happy Days”; Red for “Earned income credit, and fixing CUC”; and Green for “Better Times.”

Now that our election is finally over, what I would like to propose beginning today is for all of us to agree on a single unique color that represents all of us as a people, and our hopes and dreams, and let’s just do it…together, let us move forward, let us try hard to really make things happen, and let us look forward to happy days, let us fix CUC, and let us look forward to better times.

Today is a special day and the start of a new chapter in our history. I would like to think that we are up here together as a new team and as friends, and to inform our people that the three of us are committed to working together cooperatively, and to forging ahead with our agenda. It is time to translate our words into meaningful action. Our people expect us to do just that. So as navigators of our destiny, let us, together, face the stormy and difficult challenges that lie ahead.

We in our Commonwealth are so fortunate to have created an impressive mixture of humanity that is as colorful as the rainbows over our islands which we see being created every time there is an ideal mixture of mist, rain and sunshine. We must, and we should capitalize on this mixture of talents and resourcefulness of our people to achieve our goals.

Today we are witnessing an important change in our executive branch and new leadership in our legislature and local governments. As we implement our people’s’ agenda over the next four years, it is my hope that we maintain a positive vision consistent with the desires of our people.

My job in our nation’s capital would be extremely difficult if I did not have the cooperation and understanding of all our elected officials.

As your elected Representative to the United States for the past four years, I have always tried to achieve consensus with our elected officials on issues we are confronted with and how we want congress and the administration to address them.

I urge Governor Fitial, Lt. Governor Villagomez and our legislature to work closely with me. I ask that they utilize my presence in Washington to facilitate communication and resolution of conflicts with congress and the executive branch of the U.S. government.

I sincerely believe that by maximizing the use of my office, our relationship with the federal government will continue to improve. Doing so will also help to prevent confusion and miscommunication with our federal counterparts.

Our problems are very real, and their solutions will not come easy. As leaders we must work together, even more so than we have ever done before. We must not fight over who gets credit for success, but put that energy into achieving results. Each and every one of us must hold ourselves accountable for how we proceed to tackle the challenges before us. No one should sit back and wait to see what someone else is going to do. We must all be involved and engaged. We must identify our problems carefully and define them clearly, mobilize our technical and professional resources and work cooperatively to achieve the desired results. We must be willing to make changes within our government, and make sacrifices so long as they are designed to improve the lives of our people.

The world is changing every day, and we must not assume that a strategy that worked in the past is going to work today. We must keep our relationships in Washington strong and maintain an open and honest communication with the U.S. Congress.

Previous administrations have accomplished a lot in bringing our labor practices in line with U.S. laws and standards. This must be maintained and improved on. Many eyes are watching our every move, and we must be diligent in ensuring that every worker is brought here legally, their rights are protected, and their workplace safe.

We must maintain reasonable control over the immigration rights provided by our Covenant with the United States. We must provide for secure borders, and protect against and prepare for all possible threats against our freedom, security, health, and well-being. Any relaxation of these requirements can and probably will result in change to our current status.

Our nonresident workers and our control of immigration are crucial components of our economy. We must guard them and protect them by upholding the laws that govern them. We must protect our guest workers’ rights, and guard them against those who would exploit them for commercial or personal gain.

The political climate in Washington is extremely volatile right now. Our islands unfortunately make national and international news more for the mistakes of our past and external influences, than the good that resides here. This has tainted us in the eyes of many members of Congress and this has been an obstacle I have worked hard to overcome during the last four years.

We must proceed carefully and deliberately. We must make friends in Congress and the administration, not isolate them by being confrontational and less than responsible. And, while our Covenant provides us with the right for a full and unimpeded local self-government, we must be willing to work closely with the U.S. Congress and the administration and listen to their recommendation.

I find that there is no easy way to separate what we think of as local issues from federal issues. They are very much intertwined. As your representative in our nation’s capital, I speak frequently with members of Congress and administration officials.

I would like to spend a few minutes sharing with you their concerns about our Commonwealth. They are concerned about our economic development and where it’s heading. Some initiatives to help our economy have been started by the Department of the Interior, but more is needed immediately to help our rapidly deteriorating economy to recover.

Many within the federal government have voiced concerns about our continuing reliance on non-resident workers as the salvation to our economic problems. They feel, and I agree, that economic development does not begin nor end by simply increasing the number of foreign investors or the number of non-resident workers. We must begin to create opportunities for locally owned businesses to prosper, and we must create jobs for our young people in the private sector. Too many of our young people are leaving our islands for opportunities elsewhere. We must re-assess our investment in higher education and find new ways of enticing our student abroad to return to our Commonwealth to work.

We must stop thinking of our economic problems as wholly due to the lack of government revenue alone, and that our problems will be gone when we have sufficient government revenue.

We must increase our minimum wage, and not just because some members of Congress want us to do so. We must do it because it is the right thing to do. We can do it by the creation of a local wage review board or by just raising wages across the board, as long as it is done in accordance with local laws we enact. Let us not wait for the Congress of the United States to impose its own minimum wage on the CNMI.

We must concentrate our efforts to help those of our citizens who need us the most. We are not doing them or the government any good with a growing reliance on food stamps and Medicaid. In short, we must create jobs for our people with a reasonable living wage.

I will be returning to Washington in the next week or so, and once there, will continue addressing several crucial pieces of legislation and a number of vital issues.

H.R. 873, our delegate bill must still be voted on in the House and proceed to the Senate. This is such a simple piece of legislation and so basic to the American Political System, yet I have faced an uphill battle in getting it approved. We have many friends in Congress supporting these efforts, and I know that when the time is right we will prevail. Having said this, I hope that I am wrong in my personal assumption that our delegate bill has been turned into a political football in Congress.

Senate Bill 1954 would amend Head Note 3A, providing the CNMI with greater access to U.S. Domestic Markets and keep our garment industry viable for several more years. This is an excellent example of how the solution to a local problem becomes a federal issue. It is often difficult to separate the two, and I look forward to working with the new administration as we address many of these important issues.

Another piece of legislation that is vital to our economy, our way of life, and our essence as Pacific Islands is H.R. 4255, our submerged lands bill. The bill may not be everything that we want, but it is what we can reasonably expect to achieve. The three miles of jurisdiction is the same for the other insular areas. We cannot expect to be granted more than they currently have, but once this bill passes, I and the delegates from those areas can work together to amend the law to provide a greater area for each territory. To ask for more, at this time, would insure that the legislation would not pass. The only way that we can expect a larger grant of our claim on submerged land is if the Supreme Court overturns an earlier appeal which was issued against the CNMI’s claim.

The other issues that are before us in Washington include funding for water, sewer and other vital infrastructure needs. We cannot afford to build these facilities on just local revenue or Covenant funding. We must have additional support and assistance. I will continue to engage the U.S. Congress, the Army Corps of Engineers, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of the Interior in addressing these needs.

I will keep challenging the federal government for assistance. There are parts of Saipan where the ground water was contaminated by the military after World War II, and we need their help to remedy this situation. Even though we meet the minimum standards of the Clean Water Act, I challenge any federal official to drink our tap water, as they expect us to do. At the same time, we must also make it a local priority to provide clean drinkable water from our taps 24 hours a day.

I will work for more reasonable environmental laws, such as the endangered species act which is currently under scrutiny in Congress. It is a shame when the bio diversity of our planet is diminished with the loss of a species, but it is a greater shame when economic development and the livelihood of our people must be sacrificed.

I will continue my work with the U.S. Department of Agriculture to ensure that we receive the widest range of services they can provide.

Our U.S. Armed Services veterans, which numbers over 500 throughout the CNMI are not being provided the full benefits that their counterparts in the U.S. mainland and other jurisdictions receive. I will work with Congress and the administration to bring this gap closer so that our veterans are provided entitlements similar to others.

We are partners in solving our problems and facing our challenges. I know that through cooperation and open communication we can move forward and bring this Commonwealth an age of prosperity and wealth.

I congratulate all those who were elected and look forward to working with you. I challenged all those who did not prevail at the polls to stay active and keep us on our toes.

We are at a crossroads in our history, and as we begin to write this new chapter, let us make sure that it is filled with success stories. Together we will pave the way so that we can move forward, and make it happen for happy days and better times.

Thank you. Si Yuus Maase. Olomwaay.