Sablan named Vice-Ranking Member for full Natural Resources Committee

WASHINGTON, D.C.—The Democratic Caucus of the House Natural Resources Committee organized its membership yesterday for the 114th U.S. Congress and agreed to move Delegate Gregorio Kilili C. Sablan (Ind-MP) up to the position of Vice-Ranking Member for the entire committee. Sablan is one of the senior members of the Natural Resources Committee, having now served there for six years.

Sablan will retain the same authority over insular affairs he has exercised during the past four years as the lead Democrat on the Subcommittee on Fisheries, Wildlife, Oceans, and Insular Affairs. That subcommittee was disbanded by the new Republican Chairman of the Natural Resources Committee, Rob Bishop of Utah, and its responsibilities divided among three other subcommittees.

The Ranking Member of the Natural Resources Committee, Raúl Grijalva of Arizona, announced Sablan’s new position saying that “Mr. Sablan has been a tireless advocate on issues important to the insular areas and I urge all Members to seek his guidance and counsel on those issues during this Congress. Too often, the Majority gives insular issues short-shrift, and Mr. Sablan’s leadership will be crucial.”

As Vice-Ranking Member of the full Committee, Sablan will also be able to continue the work he began on fisheries, particularly with respect to reauthorization of the Magnuson-Stevens Fisheries Conservation and Management Act, and on ocean policy, two areas of special importance to the Northern Marianas.

In addition, the Northern Marianas Congressman will stand in for Ranking Member Grijalva at the full committee level. The Natural Resources Committee is responsible for a wide range of policy issues, including national parks, the U.S. Geological Survey, apportionment of water, Native Americans, mineral resources on public lands, and coastal zone management.

“I will remain focused on the insular issues of primary importance to my constituents in the Northern Mariana Islands,” Sablan said. “At the same time I look forward to taking on the full gamut of issues that will come before the Natural Resources Committee in the 114th Congress. I thank my Democratic Caucus colleagues for placing their trust in me with this new position of leadership.”

Along with his committee-wide responsibilities, Sablan also joined the new subcommittees on Indian, Insular, and Native Alaska Affairs and on Water, Power, and Oceans.

Other posts
Democrats on the House Education and the Workforce Committee also organized yesterday. Sablan was able to use his seniority to stay in his current seat on the Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Elementary, and Secondary Education, even though the total number of slots available there decreased. The number of seats on the Higher Education Subcommittee also shrank, as a result of increases in Republican ranks after the 2014 elections, thwarting Sablan’s goal of membership on that subcommittee.

Besides its responsibilities for elementary and secondary education, Sablan’s subcommittee has jurisdiction over special education, career and technical education, school lunch and child nutrition programs, professional development programs for teachers, Head Start, the Child Care and Development Block Grant, and programs dealing with child abuse and domestic violence.

“I want to be at the center of decisions about how the federal government can help local jurisdictions run top-notch schools,” Sablan said. “Because what we do to educate our people today is the key to our prosperity 10, 20, 30 years into the future.

“That is why I joined the Education Committee in 2009 and why I will continue to work for students at every level in the educational system and for our youngest children and for mature adults to give everyone greater opportunity to learn and develop themselves.”

At yesterday’s meeting, staff also briefed committee members on the prospects for legislation over the coming months. The House is expected to act on a bill, reauthorizing the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, as early as March. In the Senate, Lamar Alexander (R-Tennessee), who chairs the committee responsible for education, has issued his discussion draft of an ESEA reauthorization.

“We may also start work on reauthorizing the Higher Education Act,” Sablan predicted. “And I will always be looking for legislative opportunities for training workers and matching them up to jobs in the economy, which is a very important aspect of education in the Northern Mariana Islands.”

Sablan also retained his membership on the Subcommittee on Health, Employment, Labor, and Pensions, or HELP, during yesterday’s organizational meeting. (PR)