{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://sablan.house.gov/house-senate-agree-defense-bill", "House, Senate agree defense bill", "2017-11-13", "2017", "2017-11", "Democrat", "House", "MP", "Gregorio Sablan", "S001177", "sablan.house.gov", null, null, "legacy", "The House and Senate Armed Services Committees issued their conference report this afternoon reconciling between the House and Senate versions of the National Defense Authorization Act for 2018. The bill, H.R. 2810, now goes to the House and the Senate for an up-or-down vote in each chamber. Among provisions of particular interest to the Marianas:\n - Unlimited H visas safe \nAfter intervention by the congressional office, a technical error in the Senate version of the 2018 NDAA, threatening the Marianas\u2019 unlimited access to foreign workers using H visas, has been corrected. H visas are used for temporary and seasonal workers in various categories, including professional occupations, agriculture, or construction. In addition to preserving the Marianas\u2019 exemption from the numerical limit on H visas that applies nationwide and is usually oversubscribed the 2018 NDAA creates a new subcategory of the H-2B visa and allows up to 4,000 for services or labor directly associated with the military build-up. This provision only applies to the Northern Marianas if and when the current immigration transition period ends and the Commonwealth government agrees on terms of the build-up.\n - $12.9M for Tinian divert \nThe conference report also includes an additional $12.9 million for the Air Force divert airfield project on Tinian. Together with $9 million that Congress authorized in the 2017 NDAA, a total of $21.9 million is now available to lease the additional 142 hectares on the north side of Tinian airport needed for the divert project. The decision to site the divert field and support facilities on Tinian was made last December with the approval of Tinian leadership and Governor Torres and my support.\n - Palau agreement approved \nAfter a seven-year wait, the agreement to extend Palau\u2019s \u00a0Compact of Free Association through 2024 will finally be approved when the conference report is enacted into law. I have been an outspoken proponent of the strategic importance of Palau to the United States and of the need to keep America\u2019s commitment to this trusted ally. In April, my bill to extend\u00a0the Compact, H.R. 2085, passed the House Natural Resources Committee unanimously; and the extension of the Compact has now been included in the larger, must-pass NDAA.", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://sablan.house.gov/house-senate-agree-defense-bill"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.7971958257257938, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}