By Gemma Q. Casas
Variety News Staff

WASHINGTON Rep. Pete A. Tenorio says Congress will take no action on the CNMI federalization issue until the concerns of the local people are heard.
The U.S. House Subcommittee on Insular Affairs will conduct its second hearing on CNMI economic, social and security conditions here sometime in August.
“The (federal authorities) are not going to make any decision until they hear from the people of the commonwealth,” Tenorio said.
The subcommittee chaired by Congresswoman Donna Christensen, D-Virgin Islands, held its first oversight hearing in Washington, D.C. on April 19.
Tenorio said there is no confirmation yet on who among the subcommittee members will travel to Saipan for the public hearing in August.
The exact date of the hearing has yet to be decided.
Tenorio said the subcommittee members want to get their facts straight and hear from local officials and residents.
“They want to collect facts and hear from the people of the commonwealth,” he said.
The Insular Affairs Office of the U.S. Department of the Interior was given an April 30 deadline to submit a draft CNMI immigration federalization bill to the U.S. Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources.
At least two bills are pending in the U.S. House of Representatives to federalize the islands’ minimum wage.
One of these measures is H.R. 2 or the Fair Minimum Wage Act of 2007 introduced by Rep. George Miller, D-Ca. and chairman of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce.
The bill will increase the current federal minimum wage rate of $5.15 an hour to $7.25 over a two-year period, which will also apply to the Northern Marianas which has been paying its workers $3.05 an hour since 1996.