'S.2739 is freshened version of S.2483'

Local
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
By Mark Rabago, Assistant Editor

The spokesman of the powerful Senate Energy & Natural Resources Committee said that Sen. Jeff Bingaman (D, NM) introduced a new omnibus bill because S.2483 was already outdated.

“We simply updated the original package to add new bills-all bipartisan and non-controversial-that the House had passed or which our committee had reported. These additional bills were ready for the floor, and the earlier omnibus lands bill was getting stale,” committee communications director Bill Wicker said in a Blackberry message to the Saipan Tribune.

Wicker added that repackaging bills is a common practice in Washington, D.C., especially because of the time constraints facing an election year.

“Keep in mind that floor time in an election year is precious, as the legislative calendar is compressed. Also, there is no shortage of competition among bills that are eligible for consideration. By updating the omnibus lands bill, making it bigger and more inclusive, the end result is more efficient and effective use of Senate floor time.”

He said the eight new bills in S. 2739-Consolidated Natural Resources Act of 2008-are:

- Sec. 202 H.R. 1922-Jupiter Inlet Lighthouse Outstanding Natural Area, FL (S. 1143);

- Sec. 313 H.R. 161-Minidoka National Historic Site/BainbridgeIsland (S. 916);

- Sec. 314 H.R. 2251-Acadia National Park Authorizations (S. 1329);

- Sec. 327 H.R. 3998-Rim of the Valley Study;

- Sec. 335 H. Con. Res. 209-Museum of the American Quilter’s Society;

- Sec. 514 H.R. 902-"More Water, More Energy";

- Sec. 515 H.R. 1462- Platte River Recovery Implementation Program (S. 752); and

- Sec. 516 H.R. 1337- Central Oklahoma Master Conservancy District Study (S. 175).

The Senate is expected to take action on S.2739 after the spring recess, which lasts from March 17 to 28. The new omnibus bill, which was introduced on March 10 (Washington, D.C. time), will not go before a U.S. Senate committee and will be considered directly on the Senate floor.

If it passes the Senate, it immediately goes to President Bush for his signature.

The Fitial administration has lobbied the committee to remove the provision relating to the federalization of local immigration from the omnibus bill, arguing that this should be treated as a separate bill.

Gov. Benigno R. Fitial has said that lumping the CNMI federalization bill with other bills and dubbing them “non-controversial” is unfair to the CNMI because it considers the federal takeover a controversial measure that should be debated separately.