Delegate bill gets US senator’s support

The CNMI’s push for a delegate in the U.S. Congress just got a boost in the form of support expressed by a ranking member of the U.S. Senate, according to CNMI Resident Representative Pete A. Tenorio.

“I have just received word from Sen. Jeff Bingaman, a ranking member of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee—the committee with jurisdiction over insular issues—that he is open and willing to work with me,” said Tenorio.

In preparation for a vote on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives, Tenorio had written to some key members of the U.S. Senate requesting their support and to express the need to move the CNMI delegate bill forward.

Bingaman reportedly wrote, “I certainly agree with you [Tenorio] that the CNMI should be treated with equality and fairness and, while it is premature to take a position on the substance of the bill prior to a hearing, I fully support its fair and timely consideration by the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources.”

“This news is very positive, and as we wait for the floor vote on the House side, it is important that we begin preparing the Senate,” said Tenorio. “This is primarily a House issue, but it must become a U.S. Public Law, and that requires the Senate to act also. To maintain the strong bipartisan support for this bill, I have contacted both Republican and Democratic leaders in the Senate, and so far the response has been positive.”

The Northern Marianas Delegate bill was introduced in February 2005 and then unanimously reported out of the House Resources Committee in May. It was placed on the Union Calendar in the House in early June. Since that time, Tenorio has been educating the 435 members of the U.S. House of Representatives, not counting the non-voting Delegates representing the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, American Samoa, and Guam.

“Many of these congressmen and women had never heard of the Northern Marianas, so I have had to tell them about our history and how we became to be part of this great nation. The only thing some members of Congress know about us are the problems we had in the ’90s, and I have proudly informed them of the reforms that have been put in place,” said Tenorio. (PR)