Thursday, April 3, 2008

Local food

U.S. Senate aides have asked the Government Accounting Office to sit on their Immigration report for 30 days, according to Gov. Benigno R. Fitial (Saipan Tribune, Marianas Variety)

I don't doubt it for a second, though I wonder why. The Senators, Representatives and staff members behind this bill have fast-tracked federal control of CNMI immigration since day one. No beltway opposition has popped up in public.

We should be surprised that it hasn't passed yet. I've read that the earlier bill was sailing through until Okie Sen. Tom Coburn got a wild hair about guns in National Parks. From the comments I've seen out of Washington, last year's Minimum Wage bill was and is more controversial.

So S.2739 looks like a done deal, but these staffers don't want to take any chances. Who's going to read it anyway? A lot of people in the CNMI, of course, because we're directly affected. U.S. Senators? Not bloody likely unless it's their bill. Try to imagine how many reports they get in one year. They'll read a summary or get a briefing from someone in their office.

Still, we can complain. In the Saipan Tribune or Marianas Variety. That will be read locally and by the Office of Insular Affairs, which drafted the bill. Oh yeah, and probably by some Senate staffers, likely the ones that wanted the report 'suppressed'.

So I guess this is for local consumption. Bota, bota.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Good take!

Bruce A. Bateman said...

Once released it will be interesting to see if the GAO report contains data or items detrimental to the passage of the bill if widely known.

It would be typical of the stayman (likely that unnamed 'staffer') strategy of hump us at any cost, to suppress such data.

Who knows at this point though...it might be benign. One thing you can count on is that the report contains no positive reinforcement to federalize immediately or stayman, the pimp and driving force behind this process, would have trumpeted it long and loud.

Anonymous said...

Actually, you are wrong -I asked. "The 30-day delay in public release of GAO reports is a long-standing GAO/Congressional protocol to provide time for those Members who requested the report to read it,
to be briefed by GAO and to prepare for its public release. This policy is widely known and clearly understood."

Lil' Hammerhead said...

Thanks Kap.. you made my day with this post. Fast-tracking has its positives I guess. And you know if Bruce is anti-whatever.. the "Parallel Universe Theory" suggests that the "whatever" has got to be the right way to go.

Thanks as well to Wendy for clarifying that.

Bruce A. Bateman said...

Once again, hammerhead is right. Since I come down on the side of maximum liberty and maximum personal responsibility on nearly all questions, those who believe that a government should make those decisions for you and that they have a bureaucracy that is going all out to 'help you', should usually go the opposite direction from Bruce who believes that government (this one or any other) does not work in the best interest of it's slaves (they prefer to say citizens).

KAP said...

Thanks, Wendy. Didn't know that, but it makes sense. And makes my point again.

Wasn't too upset anyway; in their press release they say they already had a chance to comment on the draft. Gets repetitiously redundant if you comment on the comment on the comment...