Gregorio Sablan

Mr. SABLAN

Mr. SABLAN. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, H.R. 5655 designates the Camp Nelson Heritage National Monument in Kentucky to preserve the historic resources of Camp Nelson and its role in the American Civil War. Camp Nelson was founded and constructed by Major General Ambrose Burnside. The camp served as a supply depot for the Union Army during the Civil War and supported frontline efforts against the Confederacy. Camp Nelson was different from other military outposts because it was one of the largest recruitment and training centers for African American soldiers during the Civil War. In fact, thousands of slaves who fled to the camp with their families later enlisted to protect the freedoms we enjoy today. Mr. Speaker, I support passage of this legislation. Having no further speakers, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. SABLAN

Mr. SABLAN. Mr. Speaker, Robert H. Jones, his wife Margaret A. Jones, and their family are known in the Marianas and throughout the Western Pacific for their successes in business. They are also known for the vision and heart with which they have used their personal successes for the benefit of the communities where they live and do business. Born in North Carolina, Robert (``Bob'') Jones moved to Guam in 1957 to work for the company his brother Kenneth had started--Jones & Guerrero, Incorporated. Bob would work alongside Ken for the next 24 years, rising to be Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of the company. In 1984, though, he struck out on his own and established Triple J Enterprises on Guam, a reference to the Jones' three children--Julie, Jeff and Jay. Starting with a Subaru distributorship he bought from Ken the company did well, later venturing up two years later to Saipan in the Northern Mariana Islands. From the inception, it was a family business: Margaret did the buying, handled advertising and public relations, and was the company treasurer. Sister Georgia J. Stafford also lent a hand when needed; and the children helped out cleaning cars and working in the parts and service departments. At first, Triple J distributed Subaru automobiles, Hino heavy trucks and buses, and Bluebird school buses. As business grew they added the Ford, Mazda, Lincoln, Hyundai, Isuzu, Suzuki, Volvo, Honda, Acura, Kia and Mitsubishi brands to the company's automobile business portfolio. And when the children returned from college the business began expanding beyond automobiles and beyond Guam and the Northern Marianas. In 1987, in alignment with Bob's visionary persona, Triple J began working in wholesale foods and retail grocery with a business on Ebeye in the Marshall Islands. Further expansion years later added nearby Majuro, where the company today continues to operate similar businesses. In 1998, the wholesale business would expand west to Palau along with a bakery, convenience store, and Shell service station. Triple J would further diversify into the restaurant business beginning in the mid-1990s with the purchase of an Outback Steakhouse franchise on Guam and, later, Tony Roma's, Capricciosa, Bubba Gump Shrimp Company, and Great Harvest Bakery franchises on Saipan. Scheduled to open in 2019, a Red Lobster franchise restaurant now under development on Guam will be a new addition to the restaurant group. In 1994, Triple J had a hand in negotiating the arrival of K-Mart on Guam. That store, bucking a national trend of closures, remains to this day one of the most successful K-Marts anywhere. Into the new millennium, by 2005 Triple J had grown to be the fourth largest business in Micronesia, as ranked by the Guam Business Magazine. The Guam Chamber of Commerce named the company Business Laureate of the Year and inducted Triple J into the Guam Business Hall of Fame--the youngest corporation to receive the honor. And they just kept growing. Triple J acquired Hertz Rent-a-Car rights and became exclusive distributor in all of Micronesia for Solahart--an Australian solar water heater company. Capitalizing on another opportunity, Triple J developed a first-of- its-kind affordable housing development on Saipan, subsidized by the U.S. Treasury's Low-Income Housing Tax Credit Program. Sandy Beach Homes--a $27 million, 60-unit project--was completed in late 2011; and a second, affordable housing project--Saipan Comfort Homes--quickly followed with another 40 units. Sharing in the value of philanthropy, the Jones family and Triple J make efforts to enhance the quality of life of those in need. On Guam, Triple J partners with the American Cancer Society Guam Chapter annually to support their signature funding event, Relay for Life, raising as much as $40,000 in one year alone. In the Northern Marianas, the company regularly contributes to the Red Cross Walk-a-Thon, the Marianas March Against Cancer, Make-A-Wish Foundation, and numerous other charitable programs raising money for relief efforts and cancer research. They have also been the official car sponsor of the Miss Marianas Pageant and the Northern Mariana Islands Football Association. This larger concern for the welfare of the whole community came into further relief when the Marianas was hit by Typhoon Soudelor in 2015. The worst typhoon in decades, Soudelor carried sustained winds exceeding 100 miles per hour. In the wake of the devastation, which left most people on Saipan without power for a month, Bob Jones donated thousands of dollars in food to help the Salvation Army set up a hot meals program in Kagman, one of the hardest-hit villages. For his selflessness and support, when the community was in dire need, the Rotary Club of Saipan awarded Bob Jones its Citizen of the Year award in 2016. ``Customers first'' is Triple J's simple mission statement and yet, it holds a more complex meaning displayed in the actions behind their successes. That people-centric view serves as a model to other businesses in the communities they serve. Through all these years of dynamic growth, the importance of family remains central to the successes of Bob and Margaret. Son Jeffery is the president and chief operating officer of the company. Son Jay is senior vice president with a focus on automotive operations. And, while daughter Julie spends much of her time in a professional counseling practice, her husband, Dan Murrell, serves as senior vice president in charge of real estate, food, and restaurant operations. Mother Margaret remains company treasurer. Bob is chairman and CEO. Growing into the third generation, five of their eleven grandchildren have begun working for the family business. Today, the Triple J group employs over 900 employees across the Micronesia region, many of whom have been with the business for twenty plus years. Please join me in thanking and congratulating true citizens of the Marianas, Bob and Margaret Jones and all their family for over 60 years of service and success in the Marianas and throughout Micronesia.

Mr. SABLAN

Mr. SABLAN. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor Mr. Paul Powell for his years of hard work with the Department of Homeland Security's U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services and for his service to the people of the Northern Mariana Islands. Paul passed away Friday, April 20. Most of my constituents have never heard of Paul Powell. Yet, behind the scenes, as the Department implemented the law that brought the Marianas within the U.S. immigration borders, Paul was our friend. Of course, his official responsibility was to the agency he worked for. But I think Paul always appreciated that a smooth transition could only occur if both parties understood the constraints and realities each faced. Paul made it his personal responsibility to make sure that understanding could exist. I know I will never know fully how important Paul's work as an intermediary was to the people I represent. I do know that his cordiality, his respectfulness, his willingness to listen, his ability to convey my concerns, and, yes, his helpful suggestions on how I could best express those concerns to his agency are qualities that I held dear. I feel blessed to have known Paul and will miss him deeply. On behalf of the people of the Northern Marianas, I extend our deepest sympathies to Paul Powell's colleagues at the Department of Homeland Security, and to his family: sister Laurie Lee Jones, brother John, daughter Sara, and son-in-law Lt. Commander Bryan Conlan, his grandchildren Hunter and August, and, especially, to Paul's wife, Cathy.

Mr. SABLAN

Mr. SABLAN. Madam Speaker, Republicans have relentlessly tried to undermine the pillars of Americans' retirement security. The Trump budget alone calls for $500 billion in cuts to Medicare, almost $1.5 trillion in cuts to Medicaid, and $72 billion in cuts to Social Security disability. Democrats will keep our promise to our seniors and protect the health, well-being, and financial security of American families by strengthening Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security. Moreover, the Trump budget calls for cuts to vital childcare development block grants that help ensure working parents have access to quality, affordable child care. Democrats are calling for expanded childcare assistance and universal access to high-quality preschool programs so every child can have a strong start.

Mr. SABLAN

Mr. SABLAN. Mr. Speaker, this year the Northern Mariana Islands Museum of History and Culture celebrates its 20th anniversary. Our islands' only, locally-run museum is as much a tribute to the story of the people of the Marianas as it is to the resilience and determination of those who have led the Museum's operation. They have kept the Museum alive despite many years of inadequate funding, understaffing, and a destructive typhoon that could well have shut it down permanently. The Museum is located in a 92-year-old hospital built during the time the Northern Marianas were under the administration of Japan. The structure itself is an artifact of our history, and before its renovation looked the part. Its concrete, paint-less exterior told the story of war and every typhoon that has passed through our islands in the last century. Today, within the Museum a visitor can view artifacts from the time of the ancient Chamorro people, and of the Spanish, German, and Japanese occupations that descended upon us. These artifacts, and the paintings and photographs that are part of the displays, tell the story of how our people survived, adapted, and thrived throughout our history. They--and other objects stored away in the Museum--are lovingly preserved by their local conservators, who exhibit a profound dedication to keeping the memories of our people alive. The NMI Museum of History and Culture is an independent program of our Governor's Office. Sadly, the facility fell on hard times in the mid-2000s, when massive budget cuts forced the lay-off of most staff. At this low point, the Museum had only one employee, whose availability determined when the museum would open and close. As a result, many a visitor was turned away who could have experienced the history of the Chamorro people. In 2015, the Marianas were hit by Typhoon Soudelor, the most devastating typhoon in decades. That terrible storm could well have meant the end for our Museum. The typhoon left many artifacts damaged, the roof leaking, mold along the walls, floors flooded, and much of the plumbing a wreck. And the museum was forced to close its doors to visitors--indefinitely. Into this scene of destruction a new energy arrived in the person of Mr. Danny Aquino. Appointed Executive Director last year, Mr. Aquino was tasked with the grueling repair of the museum. And more help was on the way. An outpouring of financial and material support from IT&E, Saipan Stevedore, Saipan Shipping, CMS Trucking, Soudelor Corporation, Tropical Gardens, and other local businesses, a $55,000 appropriation from the Saipan and Northern Islands Legislative Delegation, and $50,000 from the Marianas Visitors Authority gave Aquino and his team the funds to start repairs. Help from the staff of the Mayor of Saipan also moved the work along at a faster pace. The Mayor's team assisted museum staff with grounds maintenance, landscaping, and other outdoor work. Somehow, restoration took less than six months to complete; and the Museum reopened last November to its first visitors in a very long time. I visited the museum in February to see this progress. I had been there shortly after Typhoon Soudelor; and I can report the difference between then and now is night and day. Mr. Aquino's can-do attitude, and the tireless work of his staff--James Cabrera, James Macaranas, Allan Lifoifoi, and Wenny Haruo--drove the repair efforts and the result is a museum that the Marianas can truly be proud of. Today, visitors to our islands can orient themselves to the three- and-a-half millennia of Marianas history at our Museum. Residents can take pride in who they are and where they come from by strolling through this beautiful facility. And students--many of whom are required to take a course on the history of our islands--can enlarge their vision of the future by learning about our past at the Northern Mariana Islands Museum of History and Culture. Please join me in congratulating the Northern Mariana Islands Museum of History and Culture on 20 years of serving our islands and our people.

Mr. SABLAN

Mr. SABLAN. Mr. Speaker, I rise in opposition to S. 140 because it includes H.R. 986, the Tribal Labor Sovereignty Act of 2017. The effect of this legislation would be to strip employees who work at businesses owned and operated by an Indian Tribe and located on Indian lands of the protections afforded by the National Labor Relations Act. I am a Chamorro, one of the native people of the Northern Marianas, and I fully appreciate the importance of Tribal sovereignty for Native Americans. However, this legislation does not properly reconcile the competing interests between sovereign rights and the rights of workers. At least 75 percent of employees at Tribal casinos are not Tribal members. In some cases, as few as 1 percent of the employees are members of the Tribes operating the casino. These workers have no say in the decisionmaking of Tribal governments. Workers have the right to organize, to collectively bargain, and to protect their right to fight for a safe workplace, fair pay to provide a living for themselves and their families, and good benefits. They should not be stripped of these rights simply due to the geography of the workplace. Federal law and Tribal sovereignty should be able to coexist at Tribal casinos without stripping workers of their rights under the National Labor Relations Act.

Mr. SABLAN

Mr. SABLAN. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in opposition to H.R. 3441. The right of workers to collectively bargain under the National Labor Relations Act is essential for them to secure fair wages and working conditions. For workers to be able to bargain effectively they have to have someone across the table to bargain with, the party or parties that control their hours, wages, benefits and work environment. Negotiation with themselves would be a futile exercise. H.R. 3441 would eviscerate the definition of an employer to the point that not only might the true employer not have to come to the table but it might be possible that no employer would have to come to the table. Current joint employer standards take into account modern hiring trends, where about three million people work for temporary staffing agencies, working for companies that do not directly pay them, and ensure employee protections. The recent NLRB General Counsel determination in Freshii--where a restaurant franchisor with over 100 stores was not held to be a joint employer because its control over its franchisees was generally limited to brand standards and food quality and did not exercise control of the terms and conditions of employment of its franchisee's employees-- illustrates the pathway available to franchisors. I am concerned that this legislation actually harms franchisees by making them responsible for decisions dictated by their franchisors. I urge my colleagues to oppose H.R. 3441.

Mr. SABLAN

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

Mr. SABLAN. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Chairman, I will be brief. My amendment moves a small amount of money within the OSHA bureaucracy in order to put enforcement Federal boots on the ground in the Pacific region where my district, the Northern Mariana Islands, is. Some of you may know that the Northern Mariana Islands are in a transition from overreliance on foreign workers to an economy that is predominantly U.S. workers. As part of that transition effort, last month the House passed and the President signed into law an increase in the fee that is used to train U.S. workers to replace foreign workers. At the end of this month, minimum wage goes up bringing us within 20 cents of the U.S. minimum wage, $7.05 an hour. These changes are all part of the strategy to make the workplace more accessible and attractive to U.S. workers who are still on the sidelines unemployed. There is one more small but important move we can make: assure these potential U.S. workers that job sites are safe. We are fortunate to have lots of investment in the resort industry in the Northern Mariana Islands right now. Hotels are going up, and waterlines are being laid. I imagine some Members have had a first job working construction, so they know there are inherent dangers on a construction site. Frankly, we have already had accidents. Now every State has an OSHA office. There is an OSHA office in Honolulu, but that is 4,000 miles away from my district, and we have no Federal safety officer on duty in the Northern Mariana Islands. We need a real Federal presence--boots on the ground--that will assure U.S. workers that if they get a job working construction, the workplace is safe. As I say, this is one more element in the strategy to put U.S. workers into jobs. Mr. Chairman, I urge my colleagues to support this amendment, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. SABLAN. Mr. Chairman, this is moving money. We have enough money for compliance education. The problem is that it is like having driver education knowing that the next sheriff is 4,000 miles away--you are not going to get caught driving. We need Federal boots on the ground. Mr. Chairman, I yield to the gentlewoman from New York (Mrs. Lowey).

Mr. SABLAN. Mr. Chairman, I have no further speakers. I ask my friends and my colleagues to please support this lifesaving amendment, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. SABLAN

Mr. SABLAN. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to bring up H.R. 3440, the DREAM Act, to protect DREAMers like Riya, who grow up pledging allegiance to our flag, and who has worked for two Members of this Congress.

Mr. SABLAN

Mr. SABLAN. Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleagues for understanding that my bill, H.R. 339, as amended by the Senate, was time-critical and for acting swiftly upon this measure on Friday, August 11. H.R. 339, the Northern Mariana Islands Economic Expansion Act, was intended to provide one-time relief to the economic disruption that occurred in my district, when a surge of Chinese construction workers used up one-third of the available Commonwealth-only Transitional Worker permits for fiscal year 2017. This left many of our local businesses, small and large, in the lurch. These businesses have foreign workers on their staff, who know the business and upon whom employers rely, for whom fiscal year 2017 permits became unavailable as a result of the Chinese surge. There is an annual limit on the number of these Commonwealth-only Transitional Worker, or CW-1, permits, which are specific and unique to the Marianas. For fiscal 2017, 12,998 were available. H.R. 339 provides 350 more to help out the businesses caught in this bind. Had the Senate acted more quickly and had the Senate not decided to reduce the number of additional permits to 350, more local businesses could have been assisted. But the legislative process is collaborative and deliberative; and I respect that. I can say that there are 306 permits that were scheduled to expire in August and September. So by providing an additional 350 permits, H.R. 339, as amended, matches up against that remaining need. I also note that the Senate amendment takes the current permit system in a new direction by designating that at least 60 of the additional permits for fiscal 2017 must be used for workers in healthcare and at least 10 for power plant operators. These occupational categories are critical to public health and safety. It well may be that in the future any foreign worker permits, specific to the Marianas, will also have to begin to be prioritized to ensure that the most value is added to the Marianas economy by the permitted workers. Although H.R. 339 provides one-time relief to an immediate shortage of permits, there is further intent. The bill contains two provisions that will make the problem we are fixing now less likely to recur in future. First, and most importantly, the bill increases the fee that employers pay, as part of the permit process, that goes to training U.S. workers to fill the jobs currently held by foreign workers in the Marianas. Had the Marianas been less dependent on foreign workers, this year's crisis would have been proportionally less intense. So, we must continue to focus on adding U.S. workers to the economy. The fee increase is from $150 per annual permit to $200. And the increase is permanent. It does not apply solely to fiscal 2017, as is the case with the extra permits. It is the intention of the legislation that the fee increase apply to petitions filed on or after the date of enactment, not to petitions previously filed. Since the beginning of the transitional worker program, these fees have provided about $10 million to the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands government and been distributed to educational institutions. Over the same period of time, about 1,200 U.S. workers have been added to the local labor force. I understand from testimony of the Government Accountability Office to the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee in April of this year, that some $3 million of the collected fees remain unused. Effective and prompt use of the U.S. worker training funds are goals I believe should be part of the consideration for future legislation. I introduced in the 113th Congress, H.R. 2200, a bill that would have required the Commonwealth provide to the Secretary of Homeland Security a plan for the expenditure of these funds with a specific, numerical goal for job placement of U.S. workers. My legislation also required a biennial report by the Comptroller General on whether this goal had been met. That legislation did not make it to the finish line here in Congress; however, along with the allocation of permits for specific, high-value occupations, setting performance goals for the U.S. worker training fund is a policy I believe should be a part of our future considerations. The second provision intended to prevent a recurrence of the current crisis bars the use of the CW-1 permit for new workers in construction occupations. Existing construction companies with foreign workers, who have been in their employ prior to fiscal year 2016, will be able to continue renewing the CW-1 permits of those specific individual workers. There are between 1,000 and 1,500 such individuals, I understand. Approval for a CW-1 permit for an individual in a construction occupation may not be granted, if the individual was not previously approved for a CW-1 permit before October 1, 2015. And no approvals for initial grant of CW-1 status to individuals in construction occupations, as defined in H.R. 339, may be issued, regardless of whether the employer previously petitioned for an employee in such occupation or whether that petition had been approved. This provision, too, is to be continuously effective beyond fiscal year 2017. To avoid unnecessary economic disruption, implementation of the provision barring use of CW-1 permits for construction occupations is intended to apply to pending petitions and to petitions filed on or after the date of enactment. This division created by H.R. 339 between legacy and new workers will allow our existing construction companies to continue meeting the demand for housing and other buildings that still remains because of the destruction caused by Typhoon Soudelor in 2015 and, also, results from the overall improvement in the Marianas economy. Enactment of H.R. 339 does not mean, however, that the Marianas economy will not have access to construction workers to supplement the local labor force. New hires for construction of developments such as the hotels and resorts now on the drawing boards in the Marianas will be--preferably--local, U.S. workers. Alternatively, however, these developments may use visa categories other than the CW-1 to supply foreign workers. In U.S. Public Law 113-235 Congress provided the Marianas with access to an unlimited number of H-2B visas, which are specifically intended to address any temporary need for workers, such as occurs when a new hotel is built. In fact, in order to be eligible to apply for the CW-1 permit, applicant businesses must attest that no other visa category is available. In light of the unlimited number of H-2B visas available and because the current problem stems from the use of CW-1 permits for temporary construction workers, I have on numerous occasions requested that U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services confirm that these attestations are accurate. Enactment of H.R. 339 makes matters simpler: construction occupations are no longer eligible for CW-1 permits with the exception of renewals of permits first issued prior to fiscal 2016. Mr. Speaker, thank you for the opportunity to provide this statement of legislative intent today to the record on H.R. 339. And thanks, again, to all my colleagues who made it possible to move forward with the Northern Mariana Islands Economic Expansion Act.

Mr. SABLAN

Mr. SABLAN. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of the Amendment in the Nature of a Substitute to S. 114 that provides for a 6-month extension of the Choice program, as well as funding for VA recruitment and retention programs. Extension of the Choice program is good news for veterans in my district. The Northern Marianas is the only jurisdiction in our country that does not have a VA medical clinic and does not have a single, dedicated VA doctor or mental health professional. There is one physician contracted by the VA on a part-time basis. But she is at capacity and cannot take on any more veteran patients. So, it is the Choice program that allows the veterans I represent to obtain health care, where they live, rather than having to fly hundreds or thousands of miles, to Guam or to Hawai'i, for treatment. It was to ease that burden that I was one of the Members who identified and spoke up about the problem of access to service for veterans in remote and rural areas of America; and advocacy by Members from underserved areas helped lead to the creation of Choice. Make no mistake, the Choice program does not solve all of the issues of health care access that trouble Marianas veterans. A VA health clinic with VA staff in the Marianas remains my goal. But S. 114--short of a full-fledged clinic--does provide recruitment and retention authorities that could lead to having more VA staff in my district. That would be step in the right direction. Meanwhile, and until we have a real, full-time, fully staffed and equipped VA clinic in the Northern Marianas, the Choice program will continue to be needed to fill the gap and provide the care that veterans deserve. My thanks to Chairman Roe and Ranking Member Walz and to their staff for the time and effort that has gone into ensuring that Choice can continue for veterans in the Marianas--and in rural, remote, and underserved areas throughout America. I am also grateful to the many veteran service organizations, who have advised on this legislation and who have been steadfast in their commitment to improve the Department of Veterans' Affairs for those who served our Nation.

Mr. SABLAN

Mr. SABLAN. Madam Speaker, I rise in support of the Harry W. Colmery Veterans Educational Assistance Act of 2017, a bipartisan measure of which I am an original cosponsor. Among the bill's many benefits that preceding speakers have stated, there are three that address issues specifically brought to me by veterans in my district, the Northern Mariana Islands. The first affects veterans who were enrolled in colleges that closed and who, as a result, lost their educational benefit. The bill today restores that benefit so those veterans can continue their education. The second problem my veterans brought to me has to do with post-9/11 reservists, like those in Company E, 100th Battalion, 442nd Infantry Regiment, part of the Go for Broke Unit; and the 302nd Quartermaster Company in the Marianas; and national guardsmen, like the 368th Military Police Company, who were under Active Duty and who did not accrue education benefits. Those veterans will now have their Active Duty count towards the GI Bill. Third, the minimum GI Bill benefit for veterans with less than 36 months of qualifying active service increases to 50 percent of the maximum amount payable. Madam Speaker, I thank House Veterans' Affairs Committee Chairman Roe and Ranking Member Walz for their leadership and commitment to working together for the benefit of our veterans, a truly bipartisan product of work. I also commend the veteran service organizations we worked with for their determination to ensure our country honors the promise made to those who served and sacrificed on our behalf and in service to our Nation. Madam Speaker, I ask for support for this legislation.

Mr. SABLAN

Mr. SABLAN. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. SABLAN. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 2664, a bill to assist the United States Department of Labor in identifying and preventing cases of human trafficking. I thank Chairman Walberg for his leadership on this issue and for introducing this legislation of which I am an original cosponsor. As chair and ranking member of the Subcommittee on Health, Employment, Labor, and Pensions of the Education and the Workforce Committee, Mr. Walberg and I have found common ground on a number of important issues facing the American people, and human trafficking is one of them. We may think that human trafficking is something that occurs in far- off countries. And, yes, according to the International Labor Organization, there are 21 million men, women, and children around the world who are currently subjected to forced labor. Unfortunately, however, the injustice of human trafficking happens right here at home in the United States as well. Polaris, a nonprofit that operates the National Human Trafficking Resource Center hotline here in the United States received reports of over 8,000 cases of human trafficking in our country last year, an increase of 35 percent over the year before. I have seen cases of this terrible scourge firsthand in my own district, the Northern Mariana Islands. A number of construction companies lured foreign workers to come to the Marianas with false promises and misrepresentations about pay and conditions. The companies then withheld the employees' wages and confiscated their passports. The workers were subjected to horrible working conditions, crowded unsanitary barracks with barely enough food and water. They were forced to work in unsafe conditions, suffering serious injuries without access to adequate medical care. There was even a workplace fatality. To their credit, the Department of Labor's OSHA and Wage and Hour divisions have worked to address these injustices, issuing fines and citations, recovering back wages. But we need to identify human traffickers and prevent cases like this before they happen. That is the purpose of our bill, the Enhancing Detection of Human Trafficking Act. H.R. 2664 directs the Department of Labor to train appropriate Department staff on how to detect human trafficking, and ensure that these staff people get regular updates on how traffickers are adjusting to avoid detection. Our bill establishes training for a clear course of action for referring cases of suspected human trafficking to the Department of Justice and other appropriate authorities so these offenders are prosecuted. And the bill requires the Department to report back to Congress within a year on the progress that is being made because Congress needs to do more than simply enact programs with lofty goals. We also need to build in mechanisms to tell us whether our programs are working as intended. Mr. Speaker, the Enhancing Detection of Human Trafficking Act will, I believe, give the Department of Labor the tools and resources it needs to combat human trafficking. I ask my colleagues to vote ``yes'' on this bill. I would like to also thank the leadership of the House, especially Chairwoman Virginia Foxx and Ranking Member Bobby Scott of the Education and the Workforce Committee, for moving this bill to the floor. And again, I thank my friend, Chairman Walberg, for his leadership in this important area of public policy. I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. SABLAN. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as she may consume to the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Bass).

Mr. SABLAN. Mr. Speaker, I have no further speakers, and I urge all my colleagues to please support, vote ``aye'' on H.R. 2664. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. SABLAN

Mr. SABLAN. Mr. Speaker, I oppose the American Health Care Act because it fails to increase coverage for 3.8 million Americans in the insular areas: American Samoa, Guam, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, and my own district, the Mariana Islands. President Trump promised, ``Everybody's going to be taken care of much better than they're taken care of now,'' but that is not happening. Instead of taking the opportunity to take care of all Americans, the American Health Care Act ignores the insular areas: We are not included in the new Medicaid per capita funding proposal. As a matter of fact, in a year, we would see our Medicare funding reduced by 68 percent. We are not included in the new Patient and State Stability Fund. And the new tax credit for insurance premiums is actually a new cost, an unfunded Federal mandate, imposed by Congress on territorial governments. Everyone in this Chamber wants affordable, quality health care for all Americans. This bill fails to do that. So let us begin again. Let us work together on legislation to reach the goal the President has set and many of us share: insurance for everyone, not just the rich.

Mr. SABLAN

Mr. SABLAN. Mr. Speaker, as this week and the week before have passed, I watched Members of Congress on both sides of the aisle debate the better parts of either the Affordable Care Act or its replacement, the American Health Care Act. For the people I represent, the people of the Northern Marianas and of the insular areas, none of this matters to us. None of those mandates, none of those subsidies ever applied to us. The one thing that did apply to us was Medicaid--not expansion, not the regular program, but the block grant for Medicaid--which has now just been completely taken out of the bill before us. There are 14,000 participants on Medicaid in the Northern Marianas. Over 10,000 are children and students. Come October 1, 2019, they will no longer have access to health care because they lose their Medicaid coverage.

Mr. SABLAN

Mr. SABLAN. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 1362, a bill that honors the late former Delegate from American Samoa, Eni Faleomavaega, by naming the veterans community-based outpatient clinic in Pago Pago, American Samoa, the Faleomavaega Eni Fa'aua'a Hunkin VA Clinic. A Vietnam veteran himself, Eni worked tirelessly to secure this clinic for veterans in American Samoa. His efforts to ensure all veterans in his district enrolled in VA health care, to secure rent- free space for the clinic through an agreement with the United States Army Reserve, and his testimony to the VA's CARES Commission resulted in a recommendation that a clinic be established and eventually led to the approval of the clinic by the Veterans Administration. Eni was relentless in his pursuit of this goal so his fellow veterans in American Samoa would no longer have to travel more than 2,000 miles to Honolulu to seek care at a VA facility. It is fitting that it now be named after him. Eni was someone I looked to as a leader. He was the dean of the Territories Caucus when I first came to Congress in 2009. He had served here for some 20 years by that point; but his experience was even more longstanding, having worked on the staff of Representative Philip Burton, a champion of the territories and all of the people in America who are often overlooked and forgotten. There were two things in particular I saw in Eni. First, he had absolutely no hesitation in representing the people of American Samoa and providing glimpses of the culture with the rest of us. He relished the opportunity to wear his lavalava, one of the traditional pieces of clothing. He took pride in his traditional tattooing. He never hesitated to sing the songs of his people 8,000 miles away. Though a Delegate in this House, Eni Faleomavaega never presented himself as anything less than a Member of Congress. In doing so, he never diminished the standing of his constituents and their right, like all Americans, to have their voice heard here in the people's House. The second lesson I learned from our departed friend was that the responsibilities of a Member of Congress go beyond the parochial concerns of our district. Of course, we are here to be sure that the people and place we represent are treated fairly and that our special circumstances are taken well into account in the formulation of Federal law and policy; but beyond that local responsibility, we all have a larger responsibility to act and speak on behalf of our Nation as a whole. Eni certainly demonstrated that larger role we must all accept by his advocacy for Native Americans and by taking leadership in the foreign affairs of our Nation, especially in Asia and the island nations of the South Pacific. A good Member of Congress takes care of their own people, just as Eni did. A great Member of Congress understands that their people can only thrive when the Nation as a whole is a place of justice and peace. Those are the lessons I learned from knowing Eni Faleomavaega, and for what he taught me, I will forever be grateful.

Mr. SABLAN

Mr. SABLAN. Mr. Speaker, I thank my good friend, the ranking member of the Veterans' Affairs Committee, Mr. Walz, for allowing me to speak in support of H.R. 512, the WINGMAN Act. I rise today in support of H.R. 512, the WINGMAN Act, introduced by the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Yoho), my colleague, which would allow veterans to grant designated congressional office staff read-only access to their claim records within the VBA, Veterans Benefits Administration. Mr. Speaker, there are no Veterans Benefits Administration personnel in the Northern Marianas. The veterans in my district have no one to meet with, but for the very occasional, usually one 6-hour visit to the Marianas from a VBA staff based in Guam or Hawaii. It usually comes once every 6 months if we are lucky. Staffs' request for information on behalf of veterans sometimes takes months to receive a reply. This bipartisan bill would eliminate the delay by enabling permitted staff to obtain the information directly from VBA databases. This would be especially meaningful to veterans in my district who face additional challenges for disability claims due to the lack of VA presence. Mr. Speaker, I represent three islands. I work with Social Security and Selective Service, of course, like other Members. For Social Security, we are allowed to go and take data information, application forms, bring them to the main island of Saipan, where we go in line like everyone else and submit the applications on behalf of those constituents we serve. So having separate islands and having a post office in one island and no post office in another island is a little complicated and difficult. Can you just imagine for the veteran who needs access to his VBA records or who needs access to his Veterans Health Administration file? Because we only have one in the Northern Marianas. This one really would allow us to serve the veterans who deserve nothing else but the best. Our veterans responded to our call to serve and defend this country without hesitation. We must, in return, do everything we can to serve them in the same manner. I urge my colleagues to support this bill.

Mr. SABLAN

Mr. SABLAN. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to memorialize the Report to the President on 902 Consultations and in so doing recognize the vitality of the Covenant to Establish a Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands in Political Union with the United States of America. The Covenant is the fundamental agreement that brought the Marianas into this nation. It was approved by 79 percent of island voters in a 1975 plebiscite and by the U.S. Congress in U.S. Public Law 94-241 the following year. President Ronald Reagan brought the Covenant into full force and effect in 1986, pursuant to his Proclamation 5564. The Covenant lays out in detail the nature and conditions of the relationship between the Northern Mariana Islands and the United States. There is recognition embedded in this agreement, however, that matters may arise periodically affecting the relationship, and the Covenant provides a mechanism for their examination. Section 902 requires that the President of the United States and the Governor of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands will appoint special representatives at least every ten years to meet and consider these matters and then make a report and recommendations regarding them. In January of this year, special representatives of the President and the Commonwealth, having met pursuant to Section 902, issued their Report to the President. Today, I include in the Record a web address to that report, so that it will be available to all Members of Congress and to the public at large, and so that the work and recommendations of all involved in producing this document will be memorialized and widely accessible. The address is: http://sablan.house.gov/sites/ sablan.house.gov/files/documents/902%20Final%20Report.pdf.

Mr. SABLAN

Mr. SABLAN. Mr. Speaker, as a grandfather, I ask unanimous consent to bring up H.R. 724, which would rescind President Trump's refugee ban on women, like the 69-year-old who was scheduled to visit the U.S. this past weekend to meet her new grandson but is now in limbo.