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‘No guarantee of austerity exemption unless justified’
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Posted on Feb 01 2012
Press secretary Angel Demapan said yesterday that Gov. Benigno R. Fitial has yet to decide on U.S. Interior Assistant Secretary for Insular Affairs Tony Babauta’s request to exempt two Interior-funded programs from austerity measures, adding that no other federal agencies have asked the same exemption.
“If there are concerns, then it should be addressed to the Governor for review and consideration. There’s no guarantee at this point that the governor will be approving requests as it will be based on the justification,” Demapan said.
Babauta had asked Fitial in a letter to exempt the Brown Tree Snake Interdiction Program and the Coral Reef Protection Program from austerity measures, particularly the 16-hour cuts biweekly, to avoid economic and ecological problems.
Besides his Jan. 25 letter, Babauta also personally met with the governor and other CNMI officials during his visit to Saipan from Saturday to Tuesday.
In December 2010, Babauta made a similar request to exempt the Brown Tree Snake Interdiction Program from austerity measures.
Demapan said those personnel were exempted last fiscal year, along with other federally funded personnel in other agencies.
Babauta said the brown tree snake poses a significant ongoing economic and ecological threat to the Commonwealth that is preventable, in part, through the governor’s actions. He also underscored the importance of protecting coral reefs for economic and ecological reasons.
Because of worsening financial problems, the governor subjected all executive departments and agencies to 16-hour work cuts per pay period, covering local and federally funded personnel. Only certain personnel at the departments of Public Safety and Corrections and the Emergency Management Office are exempted from the 16-hour work cuts.
