Just a few weeks ago, U.S. Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources staffers Allen Stayman and Josh Johnson told local media that they’d be the ones drafting the CNMI immigration legislation after meeting with leaders of the local government and the private sector.
But early this week, Committee chair Jeff Bingaman and ranking member Pete Domenici asked Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne, in a letter, to draft the immigration takeover bill based on then-Sen. Frank Murkowski's S. 507 (which would have provided a 10-year transition period for the issuance of nonimmigrant temporary alien worker visas, and is identical to S. 1052 as passed by the U.S. Senate in the 106th Congress)
Hmmm.
Cohen is currently on Saipan doing legwork for the draft bill.
Where does that leave Stayman, Johnson and the committee?
To approve or disapprove Cohen’s draft bill.
Cohen said it himself. (Will it be a waste of time if they reject Cohen’s draft?)
We sure hope that Cohen’s draft bill will be shared with the CNMI as well.
We want to know what’s axed, what’s retained by the committee. And why.
it's interesting to know how they differ on issues -- comparing Cohen's draft bill with that of what's going to be introduced by the committee.
Has Cohen taken (or will take) an approach different from that of Stayman and Johnson?
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