Gregorio Sablan

Mr. SABLAN

Mr. SABLAN. Mr. Speaker, today I ask you to join me in celebrating a fifty-year story of success that spans not just the Northern Mariana Islands or the mid-Pacific region, but three continents and several oceans. The Luen Thai Group of companies was founded by Dr. Tan Siu Lin in Hong Kong in September 1965, expanded to the Northern Mariana Islands and Guam in the 1970s, and now provides many important services to our community through its many local, regional, and international affiliates. The Luen Thai Group is among the most successful apparel and accessories supply chain service providers in the world. The apparel business is listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange and produced 175 million units of garments, bags and shoes last year. The company has invested heavily in the tourism industry in our region and continues to drive the expansion of tourism today. Luen Thai affiliate Century Travel and Tours is responsible for bringing thousands of visitors to our islands and for providing for their enjoyment during their stay with professional, quality services in air and ground passenger transportation. Luen Thai Fishing Venture is a ``one-stop'' seafood provider, offering a full range of supply chain services from fleet operation, base operation, and processing in the central and western Pacific regions, to marketing and sales in Japan, the United States and China. Luen Thai is also a provider of third party logistics as well as air and sea freight forwarding. The synergy created by these three areas of activity not only supports Luen Thai's own growth, but also helps connect the many small islands scattered over our vast ocean region, contributing to economic development and lifting the quality of life for those who inhabit Micronesia. And affiliate Asia Pacific Airlines' services match the needs of a wide-ranging clientele. APA is a US-registered airline and a reliable air cargo service carrier in the western Pacific region. Luen Thai has been involved in shipping since its early days. Along with partners, Luen Thai set up Mariana Express Lines, Ltd. in 1997 to increase the supply of shipping services in the Micronesian region. MELL's reliable and regular shipping services have brought business growth to Luen Thai Group as well as other enterprises in the region. With service stations in 12 countries across Asia and America, affiliate CTSI is the largest provider of logistics services in Micronesia. It also works closely with MELL and APA to provide a full range of logistics and support services, including logistics consultancy and training, as well as customized IT solutions which support service integration, real time information and efficient operations. CTSI strives to provide the best to its customers by fostering a corporate culture that champions quality service, and by continually investing in both personnel as well as the hardware of the company. Affiliate POI Aviation provides a broad range of round-the-clock services in ground handling, passenger and cargo handling, airport operation, and aircraft maintenance, to Saipan International Airport and its users. Affiliate Century Insurance was established in the 1980s as an agent for a number of multi-national non-life insurance companies to issue and underwrite policies on commercial and domestic types of insurance in Micronesia. It was granted a Certificate of Authority to operate as the first fully-fledged non-life insurance company in CNMI. For a long time, the sheer size of Micronesia has made it difficult and costly to provide a quality health service to the small populations scattered over its islands. Luen Thai met this challenge by investing in TakeCare, Inc. TakeCare provides medical insurance and owns FHP Health Center. One of the longest serving health service providers in the region, FHP operates twelve centers of medical care on Saipan and Guam which cover the full spectrum of wellness, both in sickness and health, from monitoring physical fitness to dispensing quick responses to urgent medical needs such as transfer service to major medical facilities overseas. Affiliate Saipan Tribune is a daily newspaper that keeps the people of Saipan informed about life on the island and world events while its web version serves as a window to the islands for the outside world. The Tribune is a very important part of the community fabric. Luen Thai also owns Cosmos Distributing Co. Ltd. and Dickerson & Quinn, which is a vast network in Micronesia for the distribution of a myriad of international brands. Tango, Inc. brings great, state-of-the art cinema to the western Pacific region. Today, the company owns 17 movie screens, 30 bowling alleys, and other entertainment and dining outlets in the region. Realty Management Services provides professional management and rental services in Guam and Saipan, including for residential, commercial and industrial properties. The first-rate service and green initiatives of RMS have set benchmarks in the region. Dr. Tan Siu Lin's values and beliefs are the guiding principles of the operation and development of businesses in Luen Thai. Dr. Tan believes strongly in giving back to the communities where Luen Thai operates. In 2009, Luen Thai launched the ``iServe. iGiveback.'' program that incorporated all business units and their employees. The group of companies has also shown its support for educational, art, cultural, as well as sport activities and programs with generous sponsorships. The first Tan Siu Lin Foundation was established in Saipan in 1986, followed by others in Guam, Hong Kong, and China, to oversee and coordinate Dr. Tan's wide-ranging charitable works in many different places. The history of the Luen Thai group of companies is an extraordinary success story that reflects the vision and dedication of Dr. Tan and his family. The company and its affiliates bring employment, products, services, and business opportunities to the Northern Mariana Islands, to our entire region, and around the world.

Mr. SABLAN

Mr. SABLAN. Mr. Speaker, allow me to add to the record of the U.S. House of Representatives the story of Mr. William DeWitt, a teacher, who has brought the art of music in the Northern Mariana Islands to an unprecedented level of excellence and who has given to thousands of our young people the joy of finding within themselves their own musical talents. Mr. William DeWitt first came to the Northern Mariana Islands in 1993, beginning his career in middle and junior high school, teaching a variety of subjects, including band, piano, and choir. He then accepted an offer to teach at Marianas High School and was successful there at reviving its band program. Enthusiasm for instrumental music education began to crescendo, and in 2002 Mr. DeWitt was invited to join the faculty of the newly inaugurated Saipan Southern High School, which was designed to be a magnet school for students with an interest in the arts and technology. He has now spent thirteen years at Saipan Southern, helping countless students fulfill their dream to make music and share it with the world. In doing so, Mr. DeWitt and the students he has guided have created a legacy, the Saipan Southern High School Manta Ray Band, that is certainly one of the greatest sources of pride for the Northern Marianas Public School System and, indeed, for our entire community. When Mr. DeWitt came to Saipan 22 years ago, he could not have known what he would accomplish. Our island community has always teemed with multi-generational musical talent and held a deep love for singing. But band music and its array of instruments--the trumpet, flute, trombone, and clarinet--were less well known. Mr. DeWitt changed that. Mr. DeWitt also oversaw the incorporation of a growing diversity of students into our schools using music as a unifying influence and adding the international flavor of this new student body to its musical sensibility. Up to 250 students now participate in some aspect of the Manta Ray Band program at Saipan Southern. They come from many ethnicities and cultures--Chamorro, Carolinian, Palauan, Marshallese, Filipino, Korean, Hawaiian, Japanese, Chinese, Indian--and William DeWitt has helped them learn to join together as one, making music. Perhaps, this very diversity is key to the success and world-wide recognition the Manta Ray Band has achieved under the baton of Mr. DeWitt. Five times in the last seven years the Manta Ray Band has earned the Tumon Bay Music Festival Sweepstakes Award, the most wins by any organization in the festival's history. The Manta Rays have been invited to and performed at two Olympic Games: Beijing in 2008 and London in 2012. The Band has showcased its talents at the Sydney Opera House, Carnegie Hall, Westminster Abbey, and Disneyland. And just last month, at the Los Angeles Musical Festival the Manta Ray Band earned the Gold Award as the highest scoring ensemble in festival competition. This Gold Award is something of a fairy-tale ending to Mr. DeWitt's career. His band executed its performance with a new precision and intensity. His students displayed an infectious enthusiasm and rhythmic jaunt that gave their concert an element of variety and versatility no other ensemble could match. But backstage after the event amidst the triumph, while cameras clicked, tears flowed and hugs abounded, as the Manta Rays dealt with the recognition that this pinnacle also marked the end of an era--for Mr. William DeWitt had taken his final bow with the band. William DeWitt and his family will now be able to spend time with his parents in California, where he will also pursue a post-graduate degree. We wish him well. And we will always be grateful to him for the way that he drew from a very small population of students their maximum talent, so inculcating them in the fundamental elements of musicianship that they were able to soar on international stages. We will also remember as significant as what he gave to each individual student is what Mr. William DeWitt gave to the larger communities of which we are part: the pride and honor his musicians brought to Saipan Southern High School, to the Public School System, and to the Northern Mariana Islands as a whole. This musical venture he has led became a partnership for all of us. Individuals and businesses gladly supported the Manta Ray Band with contributions totaling more than a million dollars over the course of the past decade. And, as a community, we should honor William DeWitt's legacy by continuing to give our young musicians the opportunity to develop, master, and showcase their talents. Thank you, Mr. William DeWitt. May the richness of island life always flow in your blood, just as your accomplishments will always be engraved into our island history.

Mr. SABLAN

Mr. SABLAN. Mr. Chairman, I have an amendment at the desk.

Mr. SABLAN. Mr. Chairman, my amendment increases funding for territorial assistance initiatives managed by the Interior Department. The assistance benefits the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, which I represent, but also the United States territories of American Samoa, Guam, and the United States Virgin Islands, as well as America's allies in the Pacific, the Republic of Palau, the Federated States of Micronesia, and the Republic of the Marshall Islands. The assistance will continue our commitment to help all of these areas to develop economically and become more self-sufficient. Mr. Chairman, much remains to reach these goals. The 2010 Census revealed that poverty levels in the islands remain three to five times the national average, and median income in the Northern Marianas is only $20,000 compared to $53,000 nationwide. The most recent gross domestic product data for the islands, reported by the Bureau of Economic Analysis, found that in the Virgin Islands, real GDP declined 5.4 percent in 2013 and declined 2.4 percent in American Samoa. In contrast, the real GDP for the United States, excluding the territories, increased 2.2 percent in 2013. So we have a lot of catching up to do. Interior has been very responsible in recent years, focusing technical assistance funds in a way that really will help our areas develop economically. I am thinking in particular of the Empowering Insular Communities program, which is helping us move imported fuels-- that are costly and take money out of our economies--to greater use of locally available energy sources. I am thinking about the Insular Areas: Assessment of Buildings and Classrooms Initiative, just like the preceding amendment. This program found that only 38 percent of insular schools are in acceptable condition and identified specifically those schools where there are safety hazards for students. The ABC Initiative is systematically upgrading that infrastructure so our children have schools that are conducive to learning and are safe. Developing those human resources is the surest way to raise our economy. We need to give Interior the resources to continue--and finish--that initiative. The additional $5 million my amendment provides can be used for these or any of the other territorial assistance programs, such as the Coral Reef Initiative, brown tree snake control, or compact impact to areas negatively affected by United States immigration policies. Mr. Chairman, all of these programs are works in progress. We should provide more funding for them, and technical assistance funding should remain focused on programs that the Department has already begun and invested in. I appreciate the past support for the program and, even in these challenging fiscal times, I urge your support for increased funding for assistance to territories for fiscal year 2016. Mr. Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. SABLAN. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Chairman, I appreciate very much the chairman's offer to work with me because I will look him up and work with him and his subcommittee. But let me just make a small point here of what this technical assistance money means to us. The States are eligible for thousands of Federal programs that help States do one thing or another, from social to educational to infrastructure projects. For the territories, there are only 700-some programs where the territories are eligible. So there is a difference. So this small pot of technical assistance money is a program that provides grants to help the territories pick themselves up and wipe off the dust. It is just a small amount of money. Five million goes a long way, Mr. Chairman, when it is fixing the schools that the Army Corps has already identified. I understand there are 1,500 school buildings, and 62 percent of them are not safe, and only 38 percent are declared safe. So just like we do for the Bureau of Indian Education, we are also asking that we increase this money. So I will also work with the chair, Mr. Chairman, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. SABLAN. Mr. Chairman, I demand a recorded vote.

Mr. SABLAN

Mr. SABLAN. Mr. Chairman, how much time do I have remaining?

Mr. SABLAN. Mr. Chairman, I have an amendment at the desk.

Mr. SABLAN. Mr. Chairman, many of us in this Chamber share a concern that the Federal Government has so much power and so many resources that it can overwhelm and even intimidate smaller State and local governments. The amendment I am offering responds to that concern. It requires, before any funds are expended in the Northern Mariana Islands for expanded activities by the military, that the Secretary of Defense reach agreement with the government of the Northern Mariana Islands on the nature and scope of those activities. My amendment levels the playing field between the very powerful Federal Government and a very small territorial government. A little history: in 1975, the people of the Northern Marianas elected to become a part of the United States, and 78 percent of the people voted for the negotiated agreement that defined our political union. Part of that agreement includes the lease of two-thirds of our island of Tinian to the U.S. military for 100 years and the lease of the entire island of Farallon de Medinilla. The cost to the United States--$175,000 a year. That is a Manhattan Island deal. The people of the Northern Marianas committed those lands for the purpose of national defense willingly because we understood that with citizenship comes responsibility, and the United States recognized in the agreement negotiated with us that we have very little land and that any future acquisition, therefore, would be ``only the minimum area necessary.'' Today, however, the U.S. military is proposing the takeover of another entire island. It is called Pagan. One more out of only 14 islands in the Northern Marianas, when we have already given up all of Farallon de Medinilla and two-thirds of Tinian--25 percent of our total land area of only 183 square miles. The military is proposing to use these lands for live-fire ranges, training courses, and maneuver areas. I should explain that these are public lands and that decisions about the use of public lands in the Northern Marianas rests in the hands of the Governor and our legislators. To lease lands to the military or not, what the terms and conditions of any lease may be, those decisions are an exercise in local self- government, and I will respect those local decisions. But as the official in Congress representing the people of the Northern Marianas, I want to be sure that the Federal Government also respects the decisions of the government of the Northern Marianas. Again, that is what my amendment would do. My amendment simply assures that none of the funds we appropriate today will be used for the activities the military is proposing for public lands in the Northern Marianas without first obtaining the consent and the agreement of the Northern Marianas government and actually obtaining an agreement for the use of that land. Mr. Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. SABLAN. I thank Chairman Frelinghuysen very much. Mr. Chairman, let me put it this way. You have a piece of property, and it belongs to you in title. I come over; and without asking you if I could use your land, I come in with a yardstick. I bring surveyors. I bring architects and engineers to your land, and I start drawing up my plans. Would any person alive allow that to happen in the United States of America? They won't. Two-thirds of Tinian they already have. They are asking for an entirely new island, Mr. Chairman, and they would own 25 percent of the Northern Marianas. They are going to fire howitzers in our community. They have claimed that on this one island there are no inhabitants. I happen to live two doors from these people. And that they are from Pagan. They live in Pagan. They are residents of Pagan. Many of them are in Saipan for work, just like many of us, 541 Members of Congress who come to Washington to work and go home every break--except for one, the Delegate from the District of Columbia. This is her home. All of us come to D.C. to work. Some of us, even those who don't have homes in our districts, claim that we go back to our districts because that is our home. Present Federal law says that the United States Government, the military must first seek permission and obtain access to the property. They don't have that access. And in the meantime, until they obtain that access or an agreement for the use of that land, then they should cease and desist from any plans that they are making for the use of an island that they don't own.

Mr. SABLAN. I yield to the gentleman from Indiana.

Mr. SABLAN. Mr. Chairman, I don't own the land. I am just bringing out facts here and bringing out the sentiments of my constituents. I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. SABLAN. Mr. Chairman, I demand a recorded vote.

Mr. SABLAN

Mr. SABLAN. Mr. Chair, I have an amendment at the desk.

Mr. SABLAN. Mr. Chair, we all agree that the Department of Defense has the responsibility to defend our Nation, but the Department also has a responsibility to clean up after itself when it contaminates our environment or threatens public health, and we in Congress have a responsibility to give the military the money it needs for that cleanup. The amendment I offer adds $21.3 million to the Formerly Used Defense Sites program. I plan to withdraw the amendment out of respect for Chairman Frelinghuysen and his subcommittee, which actually added $25 million to the FUDS program above the President's budget request. Yet I want to make the point that we ought to keep the funding at the same level we appropriated in fiscal year 2015, which was $250 million, and that is what my amendment would do, because now is not the time for the military to backslide on its cleanup. There are 5,000 sites--in every State and territory--that we know are contaminated, and these sites are not in someone else's backyard. There are 87 of the Formerly Used Defense Sites in Chairman Frelinghuysen's State of New Jersey, and there are 42 FUDS sites in Ranking Member Visclosky's State of Indiana. In the district I represent, which is the Northern Mariana Islands, there are 24 contaminated areas, dating back to World War II, that are still waiting to be cleaned up. For example, there are 17 rusted fuel tanks in the little village of Tanapag that have been leaking oil into the ground since Harry Truman was President, and, every day, there are kids who are walking by on their way to school; there are fishermen in the lagoon just a few feet away; and there are families who are living with the smell of oil in their homes. This is not just an environmental issue. This unfinished cleanup damages our military's ability to defend our Nation. Let me explain. In the Northern Mariana Islands today, the Defense Department wants to expand training activities--using live fire, running pipelines, building more fuel tanks--doing the very things we know contaminate the environment and threaten public health. The people I represent are saying ``no'' to this expanded military activity. Now, restoring FUDS funding will not change anyone's mind about the military's proposed buildup in my district, but at least the military will have a little more credibility when it promises that it will clean up after itself because, if the people I represent see Congress cutting funding for FUDS, then the military's promise has no credibility at all. This is not just about the Northern Mariana Islands. This is a national issue. We have 5,000 sites currently identified for cleanup nationwide and another 10,000 on the list of potentially contaminated sites. Even if we appropriate $250 million for 2016, it is not enough. The Army Corps of Engineers estimates a full cleanup cost of $14 billion. So, at $250 million a year, we will still be having this same discussion 50 years from now. Again, I commend the chairman and his subcommittee for adding the $25 million to the Formerly Used Defense Sites program, but, ultimately, we all have to do better.

Mr. SABLAN. I yield to the gentleman from Indiana.

Mr. SABLAN. Mr. Chair, I ask unanimous consent to withdraw the amendment.

Mr. SABLAN

Mr. SABLAN. Mr. Speaker, this month, 72 Samoans who were exiled to my home, the Northern Mariana Islands, will receive the ceremonial farewell they were never given--100 years late. In 1909, the 72 Samoans were exiled to the Mariana Islands by the Governor of German Samoa, Wilhelm Solf. Their crime: the chiefs had tried to reinstate traditional Samoan practices outlawed by the German colonial regime. The Samoans remained in the Marianas until 1915, when they were repatriated by another colonial power--Japan. Their story was almost lost in time. But thanks to the work of the Northern Marianas Humanities Council, the history of these exiles has now been documented.

Mr. SABLAN

Mr. SABLAN. Mr. Speaker, on June 20 a group of seventy-two Samoans who were exiled from their home to my home, the Northern Mariana Islands, will receive the ceremonial farewell they were never given-- one hundred years late. Allow me to add the story of their exile to the Congressional Record, where it may be held in trust and remembered. And let me acknowledge the work of historian Scott Russell in assembling these details. In May 1909, the seventy-two Samoans, 10 chiefs, their families and servants were exiled to the island of Saipan in the Mariana Islands by the governor of German Samoa Wilhelm Solf. These chiefs were involved in a movement known as the Mau a Pule (the opinion of Pule) which sought to reinstate traditional Samoan practices abolished by the German colonial regime in the late nineteenth century. The leader of the movement was Lauaki Namulau'ulu, an orator of high standing from Safotulafai, one of the most senior villages in Savai'i. Lauaki and his followers, however, failed to secure support from other factions in Samoa and they were subsequently exiled to distant Saipan by Governor Solf. The Samoans established themselves on Saipan just south of the village of Tanapag. They built eleven fale, the distinctive round Samoan residential house, one each for the ten chiefs and one for the Samoan pastor and his family who accompanied the chiefs in exile. The German administration provided each family with tools, seeds and livestock. Water was brought in by bamboo piping from nearby Saddok Agaton and the people of Tanapag gave their new neighbors assistance. It is reported that the Samoans acclimated well since Saipan's environment was very similar to that of their homeland. The Samoans remained on Saipan until June 1915 when they were repatriated home by the Japanese military administration that had been on the island since October 1914. The story of these political exiles was almost lost in time. No significant body of oral history regarding the Samoans survives in the Marianas. Local recollections about the Samoan presence are limited to a couple short magazine articles dating to the late 1960s. And the German, Japanese, and New Zealand/British government records associated with this event have not been readily available. In the late 1990s, however, the Division of Historic Preservation of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands did acquire an account written by the youngest exiled chief, Iiga Pisa. Pisa's account, written in 1942, provides some details about exile life on Saipan but its main focus is Pisa's own remarkable voyage from Saipan to Guam in a small Samoan paddling canoe. Pisa was an ambitious youth and had spent his time on Saipan learning the German language with the aim of obtaining employment in the colonial government in Samoa after returning home. World War I, however, ended his plans when English- speaking New Zealanders replaced Germans as colonial administrators in what is now Independent Samoa. Pisa decided that rather than return to his home unprepared, he would paddle his way to American-controlled Guam where he hoped to learn English. Without informing the elder chiefs, Pisa secretly departed Saipan at night in a borrowed Samoan paddling canoe. After reaching Rota in the Northern Marianas, where he was provided food and shelter by the Alcalde, Pisa continued on to Guam where he came ashore at Ritidian. After convincing the American military governor of his identity, he was given a job in the Navy printing office. Pisa quickly learned English and requested to be returned home in 1919. He then had a successful career in the local government. He was the only exiled chief to survive the influenza epidemic that claimed millions of lives worldwide in 1918. Today, Pisa is still remembered in Samoa for his daring voyage to Guam. This month all of this remarkable piece of Pacific history will be remembered in a series of events arranged by the Northern Marianas Humanities Council. Dignitaries, scholars, and keepers of the islands' oral history will convene from Samoa, New Zealand, and the Mariana Islands. The culmination will be a farewell ceremony conducted in accordance with the precepts of Samoan culture. In commemoration of this event and in remembrance of those Samoans, who were exiled for their political beliefs, I submit this brief history.

Mr. SABLAN

Mr. SABLAN. Mr. Chair, I am offering an Amendment in the Nature of a Substitute for H.R. 1335, which was submitted to the Rules Committee by my colleague Mr. Huffman. Mr. Chair, the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act is a sterling example of good federal policy and has helped make the United States the world leader in sustainable fisheries management. When we last reauthorized Magnuson-Stevens in 2007, we required the use of annual catch limits to end and prevent overfishing. Using this management tool--annual catch limits--we have increased the number of American fish stocks with populations sufficiently large that we can count on their ability to continue reproducing. Using annual catch limits as our guide, we have reduced the number of stocks being fished in excess of maximum sustainable yield--to an all- rime low. Magnuson-Stevens has proven to be effective environmental policy. It is also good economic policy. U.S. fisheries contributed nearly $90 billion and 1.5 million jobs to the economy in 2012. And the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration estimates that, when we have fully rebuilt our fisheries, they will add another $31 billion to our national economy and produce 500,000 new jobs. Of course, we learn as we go; and there are ways that Magnuson- Stevens could be made even more effective as environmental and economic policy. The Huffman-Sablan amendment in the nature of a substitute provides some of that fine-tuning. And our amendment does that without undermining the annual catch limits regime and other core principles that have made Magnuson-Stevens so effective. H.R. 1335, on the other hand, risks back-sliding on the progress we have made. I recognize that some of these issues are technical in nature, but bear with me. H.R. 1335 would allow non-target stocks in a fishery to be defined as ecosystem component species, which are not subject to annual catch limits, even if these non-target stocks are depleted or overfished. For instance, H.R. 1335 would allow Atlantic halibut to be reclassified as an ecosystem component species, no longer subject to an annual catch limit. Yet, Atlantic halibut today are finally rebuilding after decades of decline. H.R. 1335 would put that progress at risk. Another problem with H.R. 1335 is that it tries to conform the timelines in the National Environmental Policy Act with timelines in Magnuson-Stevens. This could force the Secretary of Commerce to approve fishery management plans that have not had the full benefit of National Environmental Policy Act analysis--particularly, by reducing the amount of time that the public has to comment on federal action. I do not think we want to be cutting the public out of this important decision- making process. A third problem area for H.R. 1335 is that it prohibits information sharing. Fisheries data collected by NOAA in the process of administering Magnuson-Stevens could not be used in the management of other marine resources managed under the Marine Mammal Protection Act, the National Marine Sanctuaries Act, the Antiquities Act, the Endangered Species Act, and the Migratory Bird Treaty Act. Nor could the Magnuson-Stevens fisheries data be used in managing offshore energy exploration and development, or water pollution, or coastal resources. That does not really make much sense. The substitute amendment Mr. Huffman and I are offering avoids these pitfalls. We simply want to improve fisheries research and management to benefit fishermen and fishing communities. How does our amendment do that? By implementing electronic monitoring to lower costs for the fishing fleet; By improving the collection of fisheries data, which we all agree is lacking; By increasing cooperative research and management efforts between scientists and fishermen; By making the operations of the Regional Fishery Management Councils more transparent and open to public participation; By allowing the Councils to select individuals who have expertise on subsistence fishing practices, so we incorporate the interests and expertise of Alaska Natives, Pacific Islanders, and Indian Tribes; and By recognizing the subsistence fishing may encompass more than personal consumption, but also includes some small-scale, low technology, commercial fishing. And our amendment makes these improvements in Magnuson-Stevens without undermining core policies that have made the Act so effective. Magnuson-Stevens is passed due for reauthorization. But let us do so in a way that does not jeopardize the progress we have made, so we can keep building more sustainable and more profitable fisheries for today and for our nation's future. I ask my colleagues to support the Huffman-Sablan amendment.

Mr. SABLAN

Mr. SABLAN. Mr. Speaker, today I am introducing the Fishing Economy Improvement Act. The bill reauthorizes the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act and makes a number of refinements, which I believe can help Magnuson-Stevens Act work even more effectively at ensuring that the United States of America has viable fish stocks and a thriving fishing economy today and into the future. In developing the policy proposals in this bill I have worked closely with Mr. Huffman, the Ranking Member on the Natural Resources Subcommittee on Water, Power, and Oceans. Together, we have sat through hours of hearings on a reauthorization of the Magnuson Act and heard problems identified and remedies suggested from a variety of groups with an interest in America's fisheries. That experience has made clear that there are a number of areas where there could be bipartisan agreement on improvements that can be made to Magnuson. In this time of ``gridlock'' in Congress, I think it is important that we do not miss opportunities in areas where there is consensus. So, for instance, the Fishing Economy Improvement Act proposes that we improve fisheries data collection through the use of electronic monitoring and that we overhaul the way that the federal government manages this data so that we get the most value from it. The Fishing Economy Improvement Act increases opportunities for public participation in the fishery management process by requiring widely accepted, modern-day practices such as live, online broadcasting of fishery council meetings. And the bill allows for data collected by states from recreational fishing to be incorporated into federal assessments of the health of fish stocks. These are all ideas that find wide agreement on both sides of the aisle and could further improve the effectiveness of the Magnuson-Stevens conservation and management practices we already have in place. Of course, I also have a responsibility to the people I represent to look for improvements to our national fishing policies that could specifically yield improvements for the Northern Mariana Islands. One proposal in the Fishing Economy Improvement Act is to assure the interests of subsistence fishers, or what the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations refers to as artisanal fishers, are represented on the regional fishery management councils. The people of the Northern Mariana Islands are generally not involved in industrial scale fishing, but we have a tradition of livelihood from the sea that goes back for millennia and continues to this day. These island fishermen and women should have a seat on the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council, right beside the industrial users--as should Native Alaska and Native American subsistence users on the other seven regional councils, where appropriate. This proposal, too, is an area of bipartisan agreement. Pacific islanders also should have a more official role in the international organization that is responsible for managing and conserving tuna and other highly migratory fish in our region. For that reason, the Fishing Economy Improvement Act requires that one of the five U.S. seats on the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission always be held by a resident of American Samoa, Guam, or the Northern Mariana Islands. The seat would rotate among our three island jurisdictions. I also believe that, when the rights to fish around the Northern Mariana Islands are sold, the fees should go directly to the government of the Northern Mariana Islands. Right now, some of those fees go to WestPac, the federal regional council, and WestPac has to use the funds for marine conservation. I am not opposed to conservation. We cannot have a strong fishing economy unless we manage stocks sustainably and maintain the overall health of the oceans. But revenues from Northern Marianas resources belong to the people of the islands. Their own government should decide the best use for those funds--not WestPac, a federal agency. My bill helps ensure that revenues from fishing around the U.S. Pacific islands, such as the Northern Marianas, go to people of those islands. The people of the Pacific islands have a deep cultural tradition of decision-making by consensus. The tradition on the Northern American continent was often to move farther west when neighbors proved difficult. On tiny islands surrounded by vast oceans there is greater pressure to get along and find agreement. In that spirit I am introducing the Fishing Economy Improvement Act. I ask that Members on both sides of the aisle consider whether there are areas in fishery management where we can find common ground. I look forward to reaching out to Mr. Young of Alaska, who has also introduced legislation reauthorizing the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act. I know there are proposals in Mr. Young's bill with which I can agree; and I believe there are ideas in the bill I have introduced that are in harmony with or could build upon the proposals in his bill.

Mr. SABLAN

Mr. SABLAN. Mr. Speaker, the people of the Northern Mariana Islands deserve the same protections of federal law as other Americans. Making sure my people get equal treatment is one of the reasons I came to Congress and equivalent treatment brings me to the floor today in support of H.R. 1367. As we have heard, H.R. 1367 extends the protections of the Expedited Funds Availability Act to the people of the Northern Marianas and American Samoa. This would mean that account holders in the Northern Marianas and American Samoa would have timely access to their money when they deposit a check in their bank. The same banking rules would apply in the Northern Marianas and American Samoa as apply in Alaska, Hawai'i, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands--the areas of our nation not directly connected to the contiguous forty-eight states. It may be that in 1987, when the Expedited Funds Availability Act was first adopted, the Northern Marianas and American Samoa seemed remote from the rest of America. Back then, paper checks may have been bundled up and sent through the mail. So delays were inevitable. But today banking is handled electronically. With a smart phone many banking customers can take a picture of a check and deposit it in their account without even going to the bank. I have checked with the major banks in my district; none has any problem with having this federal law apply to their operations--because they all do business electronically and make deposits quickly available. So, clearly, it is time to update federal banking laws with respect to the Northern Marianas and American Samoa and join the 21st century. I want to thank my friend, Congresswoman Aumua Amata Coleman Radewagen, for introducing H.R. 1367. And I want to congratulate her for getting her bill moved through the Financial Services Committee and brought to the floor quickly and early in the 114th Congress. This same language has passed the House before, but died in the Senate. But the quick start that Congresswoman Radewagen has given her bill will allow the Senate more time--and, we hope, enough time--to make this simple correction to the way federal law applies in two of our nation's insular areas. I would also like to thank Chairman Jeb Hensarling, Ranking Member Maxine Waters, and all the members of the Financial Services Committee for recognizing that creating a uniform application of federal banking law--at least with respect to how quickly depositors have access to their funds--is an area of bipartisan consensus. I ask all Members of the House to agree and vote today in favor of H.R. 1367.

Mr. SABLAN

Mr. SABLAN. Mr. Speaker, as we ready to reauthorize the Elementary and Secondary Education Act in the 114th Congress, I am introducing legislation, which I want to see incorporated into a reauthorization and which will help fulfill one of the original goals of the Act, namely to ensure that American children have access to a high-quality education--no matter the economic circumstances of the geographic area where they live. Title 1 of the ESEA was designed to address the ``impact that concentrations of low-income families have on the ability of local educational agencies to support adequate educational programs . . .'' Pub. L. No. 89-10, Sec. 201. But this intent--to close the educational opportunity gaps that exist from community to community in America--has not yet been realized in my district, the Northern Mariana Islands, where incomes are less than half the national median and our local educational agency still struggles to meet the needs of students. Expenditures for public elementary and secondary education nationally were $10,667 per pupil in fiscal 2012, the most recent year for which this data is available. In the Northern Marianas public elementary and secondary education spending per pupil was just $6,246. National Center for Education Statistics, U.S. Department of Education. In part, this gap is a function of the local contribution; but the point of Title I was to use federal resources to balance educational funding nationwide by helping places where there is limited fiscal capacity. And my constituents are not unwilling to invest in education: In November they adopted an initiative amending our Commonwealth Constitution to require that 25 percent of each year's local revenues go to our schools, an increase of the existing 15 percent requirement. But, because personal incomes are low, these local government revenues are limited. The local contribution in the Northern Marianas is also constrained because we have only one layer of government. Local educational agencies nationwide are generally funded both by a state and by a county or municipal government, a system that shares state resources across wealthy areas and poor. In the Northern Marianas there is only a single, state-level government that has authority to raise revenues and is solely responsible for supporting our school system. If it operated as intended, the system of allocation established for Title I-A funding should alleviate such variations in local capacity, instead it appears to disadvantage the Northern Marianas. The ESEA gives the Secretary of Education authority to allocate a fixed one percent of Title 1 funds among the Bureau of Indian Education (BIE) schools and four ``outlying areas,'' of which the Northern Marianas is one. But, according to the Congressional Research Service, the result in fiscal 2014 was an allocation of $1,987 per qualifying child in Bureau schools, while each qualifying child in Northern Marianas schools was allotted only $1,073. In addition to this allocation discrepancy, associated with Secretarial discretion, there is an inherent flaw in the Title 1 set- aside of a fixed percentage of annual funding to assist a population that changes with time. We expect families to seek economic opportunity for themselves or better schooling for their children by moving from one area of our nation to another. I have seen this kind of out- migration from my district. And the annual adjustments in Title I-A allocations among the states respond to this dynamic, but the fixed one percent to BIE and the outlying areas does not. Likewise, the population counts and income data, which the Secretary uses in allocating funds among the outlying areas, are based on the decennial census, not on the more up-to-date information used for Title I-A allocations nationally. As a result, Title I-A allocations among the outlying areas continue fixed--on auto-pilot--for a decade, even if the economy in one of these areas flags, incomes fall, or the number of qualifying children increases. I have also witnessed this effect in my district. Ironically, I understand, the one percent set-aside may originally have been intended to protect the small, outlying areas from year-to- year swings in funding and to assure our areas of federal assistance sufficient to run meaningful programs and to compensate for the inherent fiscal deficiencies islands we face, as a result of geographic and economic isolation. But the present effect of this set-aside is that Title I-A support for public elementary and secondary education in my district, the Northern Marianas, is, as noted, $1,073 per student, even less than the national average of $1,215. So, today I am introducing legislation that modifies the present Title I-A funding system for the outlying areas. My bill ends the special set-aside system, removes Secretarial discretion, and employs the same funding formula that applies to every other part of our nation, although at a much reduced rate in recognition of our relatively smaller populations. And I ask my colleagues for their support.

Mr. SABLAN

Mr. SABLAN. Mr. Speaker, June 8, 2014 marked a pivotal moment in the history of the Northern Mariana Islands, when Marian Deleon Guerrero Tudela was sworn in not only as the first female mayor of Saipan, but the first female mayor of any of our municipalities. Mayor Tudela assumed this position by operation of law upon the untimely death of Mayor Donald Glenn Flores. Though residing at the time in the mainland United States, she honorably agreed to serve her community through the remainder of his term, and returned to Saipan. With over 21 years in the private sector and over 10 years in government service, Mayor Tudela has a long and rich professional history. And this is not her first time to answer to the people directly. From 1994 to 1998 and from 2006 to 2008, Mayor Tudela was a member of the Saipan and Northern Islands Municipal Council. She has also served on the boards of the Northern Mariana Islands Retirement Fund and the Commonwealth Ports Authority. As mayor, Ms. Tudela oversees a staff of approximately 40 hard- working members of our community. Her office undertakes programs and projects that range from improving local infrastructure to fostering better relations with our tourism partner countries. For example, each year, the mayor's office sponsors exchange programs among our high school students and students from Japan and Korea. And on any given day, you can find her employees trimming trees to make our beautiful lagoon more visible to tourists traveling on Beach Road, patching potholes on secondary roads or catching stray dogs that roam the streets. Couples intending to wed visit the mayor's office to obtain their marriage license, and those who do not drive but desire identification cards can receive those through her office. The mayor's office also spearheads the annual Liberation Day festivities on Saipan, which celebrates the freeing of our islands from occupying Japanese forces by the American military in 1944. Mayor Tudela is now one of the highest-ranking female officials ever to hold office in the Northern Mariana Islands. And as such, she serves as a role model and a reminder to all women that they have come of age in our local political arena. But championing women's issues is nothing new to Mayor Tudela. She formerly served as a Governor's Special Assistant for Women's Affairs, and over the years has participated in numerous symposia addressing issues of import to women in the Pacific region. Marian Deleon Guerrero Tudela's willingness to step into this position so unexpectedly, serve so unassumingly and carry on the fine tradition not only of her predecessor but of the mayors of all our islands should serve as an inspiration for women, but more, should serve as a model for all people who aspire to serve their communities.

Mr. SABLAN

Mr. SABLAN. Mr. Speaker, I support S. 1086, reauthorizing the Child Care and Development Block Grant program. We all talk about jobs bills. Well, in my district, the Northern Mariana Islands, mothers and fathers in 200 families can go to their jobs every day because their children are being cared for through this program. That's why it is important to reauthorize Child Care, because it helps people who want to work. Especially in the Northern Marianas, where we are replacing foreign workers with U.S. workers, we need good child care to make that transition. And the bill accounts for sudden changes of income, so even when the minimum wage increases in the Marianas this month--as I am glad to say it will--families will keep getting child care--and parents will keep working. Lastly, S. 1086 improves standards, because all parents want to work without worry, knowing their children are well cared for and safe. I urge passage of the bill.