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Speaker's Office Term 14 [SEMI-PUBLIC]

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The Ambassador steps through the doorway, looking around the attic. "Senor Vandelft, good of you to see me...I see that Eutopia's legislature is taking good care of her Speaker." He smiles, a sardonic little grin.

"I've brought you a little present, the Queen's favorite with her tea." He hands Jerome a small, unmarked cardboard box. A quick peek inside reveals a stack of long, thin biscuits that smell faintly of ginger and have a thin ribbon of chocolate delicately drizzled across the top. The confectioner's card is inside, a Tilapian address, and the card is stamped with a simple gold crown.

The Ambassador sits down amid the stacks of paper. "Well, Senor Speaker, I know you're busy, so I'll make this as brief as possible. I was watching the latest business on the General Assembly floor, and saw that you seem to have some questions I would be able to answer. Rather than issue a press release which could potentially be seen as meddlesome, I thought I would make myself available to help clear those things up for you, hmm?"
 
*A message is delivered from the President*

"Speaker Vandelft, I'm not sure if you caught my press secretary's response to your speech in the GA. I am more then willing to accept much of what you suggest as friendly amendments. If you'd like to talk further please feel free to stop by my office and bring up further ways we can make this bill work for you."
 
*Jerome extends a hand and a warm smile to the Ambassador* Ambassador, welcome. I apologize for the condition of my office; I know the sheer splendour can be a bit overwhelming. Can I offer you anything? Tea, wine, cheese? Would you care for some Vieux Boulogne? It is most excellent. *Jerome digs into the supply of cheeses left over from months ago when he took office. He hopes that they did indeed get better with age. If not, well - given how they smelled to begin with, it'd probably be hard to tell*

I appreciate your offer to respond to some of my concerns. Essentially, they revolve around two issues: first, what exactly is the open accounting mechanism that Tilapia has adopted for New Bengal reconstruction funds? Second, what is the decision-making process for the dispersal of such funds? In particular, do representatives of the New Bengal provincial government have a say in the process? If so, how much and at what stage? If not, is there any intention of including New Bengal representatives?

As I mentioned in the Assembly, these concerns do not reflect any distrust in the will or ability of the Tilapian government to use those funds fairly and wisely. They simply reflect my view that it is in the nature of such immense projects as New Bengal reconstruction that different stakeholders will have different ideas about the reconstruction process. I would be interested to hear how the Tilapian government intends to deal with any such conflicts of ideas when it arises.
 
Barkeep49 said:
*A message is delivered from the President*

"Speaker Vandelft, I'm not sure if you caught my press secretary's response to your speech in the GA. I am more then willing to accept much of what you suggest as friendly amendments. If you'd like to talk further please feel free to stop by my office and bring up further ways we can make this bill work for you."
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The Speaker's Office is indeed aware of the statement in question, and will respond in due time. In the meantime, the Speaker's Office would appreciate it if the President's Office, in observance of inter-office courtesy, would in future communicate with the Speaker's Office directly, rather than through the press.
 
Melanchthon said:
The Speaker's Office is indeed aware of the statement in question, and will respond in due time. In the meantime, the Speaker's Office would appreciate it if the President's Office, in observance of inter-office courtesy, would in future communicate with the Speaker's Office directly, rather than through the press.
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The President felt it important to respond to the Speaker's speech in the GA and so was not just addressing you but rather the whole GA and the country, just like the Speaker's speech that caused the response.
 
The Speaker's speech addressed the General Assembly on business before the General Assembly. The press statement by the President's Office addressed the country as a whole. That is, of ocurse, the prerogative of the President's Office, and we have no quibbles with that. However, if the President's Office is attempting to make concrete suggestions to the Speaker's Office, on concrete issues before the General Assembly, there is a proper way to do so - and it is not by way of press release.
 
As is well known the President and other members have limited rights to speak on the GA floor. The President has an important bill before the GA and was attempting to speak on it. This is no different, despite what the Speaker asserts, from what the Speaker was doing. It just was that a different forum was used.
 
The difference is fairly obvious. If the President's Office cannot see it, that is their problem. Suffice it to say that the Speaker's Office will, in future, not respond to any communications that are part of a general press release. If the President's Office wishes to communicate with the Speaker's Office, it should do so directly, through the proper channels - such as the one that is currently being employed. That is a simple question of inter-office courtesy and respect.

As regards the claim that the President's Office was simply trying to speak to a bill currently before the floor: that is not the issue. The Speaker's Office has said as much. Furthermore, if the President wishes to address the Assembly, all he need to do is submit a request to the Speaker's Office. The Speaker's Office will also point out that it was the President who chose to leave the debate in the Assembly. This is not a criticism, it is simply pointing out that the President has more access to the Assembly than the President's Office is making out to be the case.
 
Melanchthon said:
*Jerome extends a hand and a warm smile to the Ambassador* Ambassador, welcome. I apologize for the condition of my office; I know the sheer splendour can be a bit overwhelming. Can I offer you anything? Tea, wine, cheese? Would you care for some Vieux Boulogne? It is most excellent. *Jerome digs into the supply of cheeses left over from months ago when he took office. He hopes that they did indeed get better with age. If not, well - given how they smelled to begin with, it'd probably be hard to tell*

I appreciate your offer to respond to some of my concerns. Essentially, they revolve around two issues: first, what exactly is the open accounting mechanism that Tilapia has adopted for New Bengal reconstruction funds? Second, what is the decision-making process for the dispersal of such funds? In particular, do representatives of the New Bengal provincial government have a say in the process? If so, how much and at what stage? If not, is there any intention of including New Bengal representatives?

As I mentioned in the Assembly, these concerns do not reflect any distrust in the will or ability of the Tilapian government to use those funds fairly and wisely. They simply reflect my view that it is in the nature of such immense projects as New Bengal reconstruction that different stakeholders will have different ideas about the reconstruction process. I would be interested to hear how the Tilapian government intends to deal with any such conflicts of ideas when it arises.
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The ambassador helps himself to some of the proffered cheese, trying his best to keep the more visual reactions under control. Shortly after finishing and beginning to answer Jerome's questions, he reaches for a stick of gum.

"Well, I'd better answer your questions in reverse order, if you don't mind, as that way the answers will make more sense. Buen Puerto's responsibilities are two-fold: the central government secures funding from other countries, such as your own, and aid groups. Then, they sit down with the New Bengali provincial government and suggest a plan on how to spend said funds. With New Bengal island in the condition it is in now, the vast majority of the buildings and infrastructure on the island have to be torn down and built anew, and that requires someone with a little more city planning experience than the interim Provincial Government. However, Buen Puerto's advice is simply that, advice, and the Provincial Government is free to spend the money as it sees fit. Thus far, both sides have agreed on just about everything.

As far as accounting, Buen Puerto keeps logs of all the money that comes in to our government, and logs of when it is disbursed to the Provincials. These logs are monitored by Amnesty Worldwide, which has so far given us rather good reviews. The Provincial Government of New Bengal, as they're actually the ones spending the money and hiring the contractors and such, are keeping records of where that money is actually spent...those records are similarly open and monitored by Amnesty Worldwide.

The Queen has stated an intention to make New Bengal island the new jewel of Eutopia. The destruction on the island was immense, nearly absolute, so we can build the entire city from below the ground up. What remains of Nueva Cordoba will be torn down completely and relegated to the history books...New Panjim will rise in its place. Interim Governor Rajuparry shares this vision. I hope that this answers your concerns?

Oh, yes, I was also supposed to remind you...you may have seen President Glasser's announcement following the Queen's recent visit, but I should tell you in person. The Tilapian government has stripped its budget to the bones to fund this project and the displaced persons elsewhere in our country. The only line that has yet to be touched is our military budget. Certain factions within the country make it difficult to unilaterally reduce, much as I imagine they do here, but the Queen has gone to some great lengths to work out a different arrangement. We will match any cuts you make in your military budget, dollar for dollar, with all the proceeds from both sides going to the reconstruction of New Bengal. Sort of a mutual detente, to try and prevent any further unpleasantness like what we saw this term, or any arms races. Plus, there are fewer tanks and more schools, what's not to like? But these reductions can only come from our budget if they also come from yours...it is, at this time, politically impossible for us to do this if you don't. Like I said, the Queen has done some very serious political legwork, and called in a lot of favors...and so, unfortunately, our offer can be good for this term only I'm afraid.

Not a command or threat, just wanted you to be aware of this opportunity. Now, did you have any other questions I could answer, anything in which I failed to satisfy?"
 
(Already submitted on the GA floor, but worth putting in here anyway)

Western Eutopian Territory Support Bill

Whereas in the aftermath of the end of the fighting on New Bengal many thousands have crossed into the Western Eutopian Territory (henceforth "the WET") seeking shelter and

Whereas Governor Thorsbeard of the WET has sought federal aid and

Whereas the provincial government can support no more than 5000 of these refugees,

Let it be established that

I. The President shall be authorised to deploy the military to provide humanitarian aid in the region, on which the military may spend up to 0.4BP

II. 0.6BP shall be cut from the military budget, this money shall be spent by the Ministry of Social Services (henceforth "MoSS") to find adequate food, accomodation and healthcare for the newcomers, create employment opportunities for them and to subsidise their return should they wish to return to New Bengal within the next 5 years.

III. Should there be a funding shortfall, the MoSS is permitted, if the Minister of Finance and President both agree it is necessary, to draw upon the 0.4BP earmarked by the New Bengal Reconstruction Act for this purpose to the amount that is necessary to make up the shortfall.
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Would the Speaker or the Deputy recognise that this bill has been seconded by Francisco Cojuanco on the General Assembly floor?
 
"I would like to propose the following legislation:
Anti Bureacracy Investigation Act.

I. Established will be a investigative committee composed of management experts from the Ministry of Finance and non-governmental management experts.

II. The investigative committee will be tasked with investigation the level of bureacracy in the National Government.

IIIa. The comittee will also be tasked with reporting legislation, laws and rules, that could/should be cut or combined to deKafkanise the Eutopian Bureacracy.

IIIb. The Comittee will also be tasked with reporting which civil servant functions are useless, obsolete or otherwise ripe for cutting/combining or something similair.

IV. The Comittee will report to the Speaker (who will in turn report to the General Assembly) and the Minister of Finance. Dissenting opinions are welcomed.
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And here is it's ECB report....."
ECB said:
Anti Bureacracy Investigation Act, [...]:
The ECB agrees that these bills will incur negligible costs, less than 0.1 BP each
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National Calendar Act: (OOC: this is only for in-game flavor, you can still deliberate on these RL days)

WHEREAS it is necessary to give our hard-working Eutopian people a well-deserved rest,

WHEREAS we must also commemorate various segments of our society,

Therfore, we, the General Assembly resolve this

1) These shall be the new National holidays:

January 1-New Year’s Day

Easter – to be determined annually by the General Assembly or those they see fit to delegate it to.

May 1 – May Day, in support of Eutopia’s workforce

Mother’s Day – Second Sunday of May

Father’s Day – 8th of June

23 September – Republic Day, when the Fourth Republic was formed

19 October – Independence Day

11 November – Soldier’s Day

Christmas holiday – from the 20th of December to the 31st of December

2) Buisnesses shall be encouraged to not open on these days.

3) The General Assembly shall not convene on those days, excepting Easter, Mother’s and Father’s Day, and all of the Christmas holidays excepting the 25th of December.

4) Military parades and commemoration ceremonies shall be held on May Day, Republic Day, Independence Day and Soldier’s Day.
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Impact Report:

Little or no impact on the budget is perceived to be the case, no more than 0.1 BP.
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Josephus I said:
Per Finance Minister.

The Vandelft Amendment to the NBRA passed in the Assembly today.

This does directly effect your ministry, so I thought I'd let you know.
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"I was a bit confused by this letter I received at the Finance Ministry. While it might be good practice to keep up on how a bill is progressing, I don't see how any Ministry would be impacted by a bill that is not yet passed into law. I understoond there was another amendment to be considered, and then the final bill would be voted on. Then it would have to be signed by the President, which is trickier than usual under present circumstances. I believe I will await the outcome of the that process before reacting."
 
I accept said nomination.
 
I second my nomination.

I'll give till Monday afternoon for any more nominations.
 
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