'It's going to happen fairly soon:' CNMI governor optimistic about 702 funding reinstatement

Arnold Palacios

By Frank Whitman

Northern Marianas Gov. Arnold Palacios has expressed confidence Washington will respond favorably to his administration’s request for the 702 funding restoration.

Palacios found top Trump administration officials to be attentive and responsive when they met with the nation’s governors in Washington, D.C. in February.

Palacios said he brought up the 702 funding with Interior Secretary Douglas Burgum and Director Alex Meyer of the White House Office of Intergovernmental Affairs.

“They were very interested in getting that addressed,” he said. “So I think, I really believe, the takeaway from those meetings is that that's going to happen fairly soon.”

Palacios and fellow governors attended the annual National Governors Association winter meeting and the plenary session of the Interagency Group on Insular Areas organized by the U.S. Department of the Interior.

“It was a totally different atmosphere from the past two (annual) meetings that I have attended,” Palacios told reporters at an online press conference March 6. “I say that because these individuals were very engaged in the issues surrounding the insular areas. Each of them asked its governor and congresspeople distinctly about issues.”

 President Donald Trump, Cabinet members and other top officials were present, with the exception of Elon Musk and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Palacios said.

“They were all engaged,” Palacios said. “The president actually asked us to join him for a day at the White House, for him also to brief us on what's going on in the nation's capital and the policies that he's rolling out.”

The president was with the group for a couple of hours, Palacios said.

The group also had time “to meet with several department secretaries in a very small working group so that we can engage with them a lot easier than if we had a roomful of individuals,” he said.

“Each of us was given the opportunity to take a look at which department heads we wanted to meet with, as a priority for us. So I was able to meet with Secretary Burgum from the Interior and met with State Department Secretary (Marco) Rubio. We also met with EPA, and the Department of Energy.”

The most significant issue Palacios raised in the meetings was the continuation of the 902 talks.

“The point of discussion that we wanted to take up immediately in the 902 is section 702 of our covenant. That has to do with the financial part of the covenant and that includes of course 702 funding,” he said.

“That's part of what this commonwealth is. That's what the people of the commonwealth voted for. And with certain provisions, really key provisions and elements and part of that agreement have been ignored for almost 22 years," he added.

Palacios said the 702 funding is supposed to be $27 million paid by the U.S. to the CNMI annually “It's now being divvied up with other jurisdictions,” he said. “That (the 702 funding) is the agreement that the people of the commonwealth agreed to. That is a covenant.”

The group also met with potential Japanese investors. With the assistance of the Japanese consulate, Palacios met the Japanese ambassador who hosted the governors and others.

“That was very engaging because I was able to meet with some very iconic corporations from Japan, some of which expressed real interest in considering investing in the commonwealth,” he said.

Heads of such major corporations as JAL, Sony, ANA and NBC were at the meeting.

“NBC is one of the telecommunication companies in Japan and is most likely planning to do one of their fiber optics onto Tinian, he said.

"The guy in charge of that line was there. We have made tremendous headway in terms of getting investments into the Commonwealth and getting - whether it is federal dollars or from industries within our region," the governor said.

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