“We all know what should be done, it’s just that we don’t know how to get elected afterwards.”
— Jean-Claude Juncker, former president of the European Commission
Decision-makers…
IN his recent testimony before a U.S. Senate committee, Governor Palacios said the CNMI is “facing fiscal calamity because of years of egregious misappropriation, waste, and abuse of both federal and Commonwealth resources with very little oversight and accountability.” He said his administration is “identifying stringent containment measures to cut costs and ensure the continuity of critical government services.”
He added, “We are now preparing to submit to the Legislature a drastically revised budget for the remainder of the fiscal year, and we expect further reductions in the government’s workforce as well as other areas of government operations in the coming weeks.”
According to the governor, his administration is also “revisiting recommendations put forth during the Fiscal Response Summit held in the Marianas” in April 2020. He noted that “many” of the recommendations discussed during the summit “were never actually implemented or seriously explored” by his predecessor. But, he added, “I believe they remain relevant and worthy of consideration today.”
As pointed out by the former governor during the summit, many of the recommendations were “painful” and would require legislative action. But 2020 was also a midterm election year. No one expected lawmakers seeking re-election to introduce legislation that would hit voters in their wallets. In March 2021, in any case, ARPA, which would provide the CNMI over $480 million in federal funds, was signed into law, and soon, the demands of gubernatorial-election-year politics had already consumed the attention of the politicians on Capital Hill.
Happily, that election is over, and a single political bloc now controls both the executive and legislative branches of government. They all agree — as all previous officials had agreed — that the government “must live within its means.”
We’ll soon see if they’re as good as their word.
…and the decisions they have to make
TO “right size” the government, the 2020 fiscal summit recommended the merger of the Finance and Commerce departments; DYS and the Youth Affairs Office; Indigenous Affairs, Carolinian Affairs and DCCA; DLNR and DPL; Fire, DPS and Corrections; DPW and the offices of the mayors; Commerce and Labor; Commerce and CDA (which is now CEDA); NMTI and NMC; Parks & Rec and DPL; the grants office and Finance.
These may require legislation or constitutional amendments which can be introduced as legislative initiatives by lawmakers.
The summit also proposed the elimination of government-issued cell phones; an end to zoning; the abolition of municipal councils; pay cuts; personnel cuts; reduction of leave benefits for government employees; the exclusion of students enrolled off-island from CNMI scholarship programs; a cap on medical referral spending; and reducing the size of the Legislature — from 20 representatives to 10, and from nine senators to six.
What would it take to implement these truly significant cost-cutting measures? Executive orders, memos, legislation, constitutional amendments?
And who among the newly elected officials will do what many of them say must be done?
