By Moneth G. Deposa
Variety News Staff

GOVERNOR Benigno R. Fitial yesterday met with Speaker Oscar M. Babauta to discuss the status of CNMI issues in the now Democratic U.S. Congress.
Press Secretary Charles P. Reyes Jr. said Babauta was in Washington, D.C. recently and relayed to the governor the “uncertainties” and “competing views” about the commonwealth now being discussed in the nation’s capital.
“The speaker met with the governor and he did share sentiments about the D.C. trip…but he wasn’t overly optimistic,” Reyes said. “There’s lot of opinions about our chances or how certain things may turn out because there are competing views and it’s hard to get a firm grasp on what exactly is a realistic assessment.”
Reyes said they are reluctant to say anything about the trip due to “uncertainties that may jeopardize the NMI situation in D.C.”
He added, “These federal issues are very sensitive because it is out of our control. The CNMI is trying its best to communicate our situation, our needs here, to help (Congress) understand what we’re facing on the islands with the decline in the garment industry and the weakness in tourism.”
The U.S. House of Representatives recently passed a minimum wage hike bill that will include the CNMI. In the U.S. Senate, the committee with oversight jurisdiction over the CNMI and other insular areas will conduct a public hearing in February on local immigration policies.