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Bordallo supports Hoyer’s push for delegate voting in Congress
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Posted on Dec 22 2016
WASHINGTON, D.C.—Delegate Madeleine Z. Bordallo (D-GU) issued the following statement yesterday in support of Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer’s letter to House Rules Committee Chairman Pete Sessions asking that the delegates from the District of Columbia, U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, and the Northern Mariana Islands, as well as the Resident Commissioner from Puerto Rico, be allowed to cast votes in the Committee of the Whole House.
Bordallo testified before the House Committee on Rules, Subcommittee on Rules and Organization of the House in September of this year to request this change. She also supported previous House Resolutions sponsored by Hoyer during the 112th, 113th, and 114th Congresses to grant voting rights to the delegates in the Committee of the Whole.
“I thank our Democratic Whip, Congressman Steny Hoyer, for again urging the Republican Majority to amend the Rules of the House to permit the delegates from the territories and D.C. to vote in the Committee of the Whole. Whip Hoyer has been a firm supporter of the territories, and I appreciate his consistent leadership in working to ensure that votes cast in the House reflect the voices of all Americans. I testified before the Rules Committee in September to encourage this rule change, and I believe that doing so would allow the territories’ voices to be heard more fully during debate on the House floor. It would give us parity with other members and strengthen the long-cherished values of the House.”
