good morning everyone the oversight hearing by the subcommittee on in for repairs or sins and while life will come to order the subcommittee is meeting today to hear testimony on the implementation of public law one can dash two to nine to the commonwealth of the northern marianas islands and under committee rules the chairwoman and the ranking minority member can make opening statements so i now recognize myself for five minutes the subcommittee is meeting today to hear testimony on the implementation of title seven of the public law one can to tonight the consolidated natural resources act of two thousand and eight which extends u s immigration laws to the commonwealth of the northern mariana islands and expand tourism opportunities in the islands through the authorization of a joint my visa waiver program while the extension of u s immigration laws to the c n m i was provided for by the covenant which established the northern marianas islands as a commonwealth of the united states congress we were very careful in including special provisions in public law one can do to nine to ease the transition to federal law as well as to respond to the sea in a my special circumstances these special provisions include the stablish meant of an extended five year transition period and guest worker program waiving the numerical limitation on non immigration visas under the immigration and nationality act for workers entering the  requiring a report on the future status of certain long term my guest workers and authorizing technical assistance to identify opportunities to diversify and grow the sea in a my economy and to recruit train and hire us citizens and other legal permanent resident workers the northern marianas islands is situated north of guam east of the philippines and south of japan the united states armed forces battled imperial japanese forces in the marianas during world war two and the northern marianas islands in turn became a district of the us administered united nations trust territory of the pacific island hundred seventy six congress approved the covenant to establish a commonwealth of the northern marianas islands in political union with united states with the enactment of public law ninety four dash two for one the covenant was approved with the expressed exclusion of the application of the us immigration laws to the scene of my to give the islands time to come up with a plan to cope with the problems which unrestricted immigration could impose upon small island community united states officials believe that the period of local immigration controlled by the c m i would last only a few years instead it has continued for over thirty years than using local immigration control to reduce the impact of immigrants on the community the c n m i promoted the use of alien workers throughout the private sector as a general policy federal laws should apply in the territories as it does in the rest of the united states but with the modifications that take into account the particular circumstances of each of the territories this was the intention of the drafters of public law one to two nine and our hearing today is convened in part to learn how we have fared in reaching this goal in passing public law one ten two two nine congress hope to strengthen border control provide for a judicious immigration system and a new visitor visa waiver program that would afford the economies of both the cinema the opportunity to grow and to diversify specifically congress stated that the act should be implemented wherever possible to expand tourism and economic development in the commonwealth moreover during the committee's deliberations on this legislation we stated clearly that the purpose was to facilitate travel to the cinema by tourists consistent with this intent was a bipartisan acknowledgement that a transition to federal immigration law would have to occur effectively and prudently however on january sixteenth two thousand and nine the department of homeland security issued regulations that would not expand tourism to the sea in a mine they have done so for the first time hundred six when the guam visa waiver program was created out of a recognition of the unique conditions prevailing on guam and its isolated location which justify a broad application of the visa waiver system i am deeply troubled that under the department's regulations issued on january sixteenth two thousand and nine the newly created my visa waiver program is actually more onerous in some respects than the mainland bisa waiver program a policy objective contradictory of this committee's stated intent in passing this legislation and a departure over twenty years of policy  toward on march thirty first two thousand and nine the secretary of homeland security at the request of island leaders and in consultation with the secretary of the interior the secretary of labor the secretary of state the attorney nine the effective date of the application of federal law in the start of the transition program allows the santa might to continue to receive tours from china and russia there by delaying the blow that would be dealt to their economy if in the end they are not allowed to continue to receive visitors from these two countries under the new mariana's a waiver program while i recognize that there are many issues yet to be worked out as we move forward with implementation of this act this hearing today will highlight a number of concerns that are critical to the economic interests of both and see in a minute or so with that in mind i look forward to hearing from our witnesses today and at this time before i introduce the witnesses in our first panel as chairwoman i recognize mr brown the ranking republican member of the subcommittee  in these documents and again today i lay out my three chief concerns funding the department of homeland security has estimated that he would need just over ninety seven million to fulfill these responsibilities under public l public no one thing to put in line and i will ask the department of homeland security to explain its overreaching authority on this matter families regulation concerning guest workers investors and other vega the gentle lady from the virgin islands christiansen and of course the gentleman from utah mister thank you very much for being here the subcommittee is very honored to have our governors three of the witnesses are very close friends of mine that i've known for years and years the first panel is made up of the honorable camacho the governor of  guam the second is the honorable benigno our deal governor of the commonwealth of the northern marianas islands and the third is the honorable benjamin f cruz the by speaker of the guam legislature and just to remind the ranking member here he said he was going to visit the islands we will be visiting both the sienna my and in august so be prepared for for our visit and the ranking member will be with us that's on the record  we are indeed honored gentleman for a presence here this morning and i look forward to your testimony as we begin i would note for all the witnesses that the red timing light on the table will indicate when five minutes have passed in your time has concluded we would appreciate your cooperation in complying with these limits be assured that your full written statement will be submitted for the hearing record but i will say since we have such distinguished gentleman who traveled so far to be at the public hearing this morning if you go over the five minutes i will overlook it so it isn't too much over the five minutes so at this point i would like to recognize my good friend from center contract or sector contract by minus thirty percent from the current one point two billion to eight hundred million or it will be allowed to contain decline grow the china  market and expand its tourism economy to its full potential under a favorable a waiver program we are encouraged by this hearing because we believe that the associated with the full with fulfilling congressional infrastructure required in implementing the specific details associated with the installation of additional layered security measures we recognize the major hurdles that will have to address in standing up a visa waiver program that would be allowed that would allow inclusion of current countries while safeguarding our national security further we are concerned that the completion of these tasks may not occur in a timely manner  and in order to prevent irreparable economic harm to the we recommend that the current one hundred eighty extended yet again until has completed its task and provides the roadmap to limited natural resources and small economies of scale recognizing important markets of economic significance to the region now and in the future china and russia are providing the most compelling the thir russia my visa waiver program according to the us marketing research from global in tourism expenditures represents one point two billion in guam's economy or forty percent of guam's island pro industry dwindling by thirty two percent in the next five years and expanded a waiver program allows for preservation of a large segment of the economy while creating a projected growth most important industry to one point five billion dollars in five years this definition meets a criterion for significant economic benefit thereby providing a strong rationale for the expeditious inclusion of the people's republic of china and russia in the  much and i'm calling now on the second  secretary in the office of affairs department of the interior and the honorable richard barr principal deputy assistant secretary for policy department of homeland security sustainable and more just than ever before if not then an economic and humanitarian disaster is likely to occur if that happens then flexible federalization will have become an empty slogan and a broken promise the federal government has three choices first it can tolerate the intolerable conditions i've just described accepting the damage to our conscience and taxpayers to pay for a costly bailout recognizing that such a bail n businesses and developing new anomic opportunity the law implemented whenever possible to expand tourism and economic development these were not intended to be empty words these words were intended to guide every action executive branch accountable to this language and require the executive branch to demonstrate every action that it takes to implement the marianas immigration legislation is consistent with the letter and spirit of congress clearly stated in represent a threat to the welfare safety or security of the united states or its territories in order to be consistent with the intent of congress the secretary of homeland security must make every effort to enable china and russia to be included in the program waiver program is a special program applicable to the national visa waiver program should not be applied to the a waiver program violate the letter and spirit of this law if we were simply going to apply to the  mariano's standards that we apply to the rest of the country there would have been no reason to create a separate program congress did create a separate program because it recognize that these islands necessarily have a disproportionate dependence on foreign tourism and that the remote long enough to ensure that it has a labor required for the military and civilian infrastructure plan for the coming years many of the disadvantaged bases in attracting new industry are permanent this law provides the c m i with some temporary competitive advantages in immigration but it does not make sense to try to offset permanent disadvantages with temporary advantages a permanent cap exemption to give the competitive advantage that might help it bridge the gap which is just now emerging this would be a cost effective way to help the c m i to help itself rather than promoting dependence on federal fourth we should recognize that it would be counterproductive to rapidly reduce the number of guest workers in the mine the worst approach would be for the executive branch to adopt an arbitrarily linear five year phase out schedule only to have the secretary of labor determine at the last minute that the scene of my continue workers would by then have already been sent home we should make sure that the law does not break up families finally we must do right by the long term workers who have become an integral part of society a number of guest workers until can take whatever steps they believe necessary to allow such inclusion as of last year expenditures by russian and chinese tourists in our islands represented about twenty percent of the total expenditures of all tourist our with respect to the two remaining areas of our economy born investors and foreign workers i'm a bit of a disadvantage has not yet promulgated the regulations despite having to do so we ask that any of our foreign investors who will not qualify for federal or investor visa because their investment may be deemed in substantial or in significant economic impact be granted federal foreign investor status by virtue of their investment in island and be allowed to maintain that status long as they maintain their investment in the commonwealth we also request that any current foreign investor who is granted federal status issued the appropriate multiple entry visa within the common law so they are not approximately one quarter of a billion dollars the fact that a number of these foreign investors will not meet the threshold for federal foreign investor status does not mean that they do not provide valuable goods and services to our isolated  community finally we asked the congress reconsider the issue of creating a permanent federal category for common only foreign workers for foreign labor is long term and the position is to be  their permanent not seasonal or temporary in any event any foreign worker who is granted federal status including as a transitional worker should be a multiple entry visa while within the common law for the same reasons i have described in relation to foreign investors it is untenable to grant legal status and not grant the ability to exit and reenter foreign workers represent approximately two thirds of the cowells workforce sure my colleagues from the seat of my would have some additional questions for the witnesses and we will ask you to respond to them in writing and the hearing record will be killed open for ten days if there is no further business before the subcommittee the chairwoman again thanks to the members of the subcommittee and our witnesses from all three panels for their participation here this morning and the subcommittee now stands adjour