[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 71 (Thursday, June 9, 1994)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: June 9, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
    A BILL TO AUTHORIZE SPECIAL AID FOR THE NORTHERN MARINA ISLANDS

                                 ______


                            HON. RON de LUGO

                         of the virgin islands

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, June 8, 1994

  Mr. de LUGO. Mr. Speaker, the distinguished Chairman of the full 
Committee on Natural Resources, George Miller, and I, as Chairman of 
the Subcommittee on Insular and International Affairs, will introduce a 
bill today to authorize grants to the Commonwealth of Northern Mariana 
Islands of $18 million in fiscal year 1995 and $9 million in fiscal 
year 1996 for unspecified capital improvements.
  The legislation would also repeal the current requirement to provide 
the islands with $27,720,000 per year in special assistance for 
priorities determined by local law.
  The draft was transmitted to the House by the Office of Territorial 
and International Affairs of the Department of the Interior pursuant to 
a provision of the President's budget for fiscal year 1995.
  Mr. Speaker, we and others of the Majority of the Committee expressed 
support for the provision as it was described by the Office of 
Management and Budget in the fiscal year 1995 budget submission.
  We are sponsoring this legislation, though, as a courtesy to the 
administration and because of our interest in the people of the 
Northern Mariana Islands and confidence in the Commonwealth's new 
governor rather than as advocates of the bill.
  This is because the bill reflects a misunderstanding of the Congress' 
previous actions on this matter. In saying this, I want to note that we 
were not consulted in the drafting of the bill and that the letter 
covering its transmittal is misleading.
  The bill incorporates the recommendations of representatives of then 
President Bush and the former governor of the commonwealth on this 
matter on the issues involved other than the amounts of the assistance 
and when it should be provided. It proposes that the $27 million that 
it would authorize be provided according to the terms of the 1992 
agreement.
  Last year, however, the House clearly rejected those terms.
  The letter of transmittal suggests that the recommendations were 
rejected last year because we found the amount of money initially 
proposed--$120 million--to be too great and the amount of time that the 
funds would have been provided--over 7 years--to be too long.
  The record is clear, though, that the rejection was due to tax, non-
resident labor, and minimum wage policies in the Northern Marianas that 
Members could not justify effectively subsidizing.
  We also objected to terms such as the one that would have allowed the 
terms submitted for Congressional approval to be changed afterwards 
without subsequent approval by the Congress.
  Contrary to what the letter suggests, both Houses passed legislation 
which would have involved the entire $120 million that was initially 
proposed.
  The legislation passed by this House included conditions related to 
the policy concerns that I mentioned as well as other provisions to 
rectify the deficiencies of the recommendations.
  The funding was not agreed to in the conference, however, principally 
because of alternative approaches which appeared to originate in the 
Office of Territorial and International Affairs but which did not 
satisfy the concerns of Members of this House.
  It was only after adequate conditions had not been agreed to that the 
House later accepted a minority proposal to end the funding.
  The other Delegates form the territories and I opposed cutting this 
assistance but could not prevent its passage since there had not been 
agreement on the essential, responsible conditions.
  There is one other statement in the transmittal which requires 
correction. It is that the bill proposes funds for infrastructure only, 
in an effort at comprise, inferring that this limitation makes the new 
bill substantially different from the old one.
  Yet, the fact is that the rejected recommendations would also have 
limited the use of the money to infrastructure projects! So, this 
really is no effort at compromise.
  Members of the Committee on Natural Resources responded positively to 
the proposal as described in the President's budget because it seemed 
to be an effort to respond to House concerns as well as because we are 
encouraged by the determination of the new governor of the commonwealth 
to reform local tax, non-resident labor, and minimum wage policies.
  I regret that the promise that seemed to be in the budget was not 
followed by any consultation with us. I also regret that what has been 
proposed is simply a substantial reduction in expenditures for insular 
needs and the same old, deficient, and rejected program.

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