Palacios, R-Saipan, said their one-hour meeting last Monday with the delegation led by U.S. House Committee on Natural Resources Chairman Nick Rahall went well.
“We certainly made the best of the opportunity to express what we feel, particularly about [the federalization law]. We shared our thoughts with the congressional delegation,” Palacios told the Variety.
He said U.S. lawmakers promised to help convince the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to include Chinese and Russian tourists in the Guam-CNMI Visa Waiver Program.
Palacios said Tinian is particularly vulnerable if China is not included in the program because most of its tourists are Chinese.
The CNMI, he added, should be given enough time to review the regulations before they are adopted with finality.
With barely three months left before the Nov. 28 implementation date of the federalization law, Palacios said there’s not enough time to negotiate for changes.
“We have to have a say about the regulations. Given the fact that the chairman [Rahall] was very sympathetic to what we were saying, I think it provides us an avenue that will allow us to give our inputs too,” he added.
