Speech #1100158325

In 1999my first year as a Representative from ColoradoI joined as a cosponsor of a bill a bill entitled the "United StatesCommonwealth of the Northern Marianas Human Dignity Act" to bar use of the "Made in the USA" label on textiles produced in the CNMI unless they were produced in plants that conformed with American labor laws. including those aimed at protecting health and safety and guarding against exploitation. And ever since. I have supported similar legislation. including the bill (H.R. 3079. the "Northern Mariana Islands Immigration. Security. and Labor Act") which passed the House last year and which is the basis for Subtitle A of Title VII of the bill before us today. I did so. in part. because in September. 1999. the Committee on Resources (as it was then named) held an oversight hearing regarding the enforcement of federal laws and the use of federal funds in the CNMI at which officials of the Interior Department and the Departments of Justice and Labor. testified that reform legislation was needed. As the witness from the Justice Department put it. "in order to control crime in the CNMI. the U.S. government must be able to prevent criminals from gaining unlimited access to the islands. We cannot expect to stop the flow of drugs. or guns. or trafficking in women and forced prostitution. unless we keep out the people who we know are already committing these crimes" and "the only way to fight effectively the larger crime problem on the CNMI is to apply the Act as it is applied in other U.S. jurisdictions with appropriate transitional phasein provisions to prevent avoidable adverse impacts on the economy." And the witness from the Labor Department told our committee that "there are extremely serious. pervasive. and stubbornly persisting] immigration. labor. and human rights problems in the Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas" which "derive from systematic. structural weaknesses in the legal framework in the Commonwealth and any solution to these problems demands a comprehensive. structural solution." In short. in the words of the witness from the Interior Department. "current Federal law is insufficient to correct the continuing inadequacies caused by CNMI immigration and labor policy" and "the need to apply . . . Federal immigration. wage. and trade standards is inescapable." Unfortunately Mr. Speaker. while responsible Federal officials saw the need as inescapable. for too long Congress did not act to meet that need. In part. that was because those responsible for some of the worse abuses had friends in powerful positions here in the House of Representatives.