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Delegate bill up for next Congress
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Posted on Nov 11 2004
The CNMI delegate bill may no longer pass the U.S. Congress within the year, but the possibility of its passage remains “very, very good” when the next Congress opens next year, Washington Rep. Pete A. Tenorio said.
Tenorio said in an interview yesterday that while the U.S. House of Representatives may still approve it during a lameduck session, the U.S. Senate has no more time to tackle it.
“It has a chance of passing the House during the lameduck Congress but it may not make it to the Senate, but the momentum of the passage in Congress is very, very good and I expect it will be passed next year without a problem at all,” said Tenorio.
This means that a new delegate bill would have to be reintroduced during the 109th Congress.
Tenorio said this is just a matter of redrafting or updating the bill, “which is not a problem.” He noted that the House Committee on Resources, which unanimously approved the bill recently, would have the same composition next year.
The committee is chaired by California Republican congressman Richard Pombo, who led a visiting team to the CNMI early this year.
“The committee chairman would take jurisdiction. We have the same supporters in the committee,” said Tenorio.
Earlier, committee member and Indiana congressman Dan Burton, who visited Saipan a few weeks ago, expressed confidence over the passage of the delegate bill.
If enacted into law, the bill would provide for the first election of a CNMI Delegate in the federal general elections in 2006.
The bill was originally introduced by Pombo and ranking member Nick J. Rahall.
