Report: Blunt won’t commit to vote on NMI delegate bill

Acting House Majority Leader Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) will reportedly not commit to scheduling a vote on a bill that would give the CNMI a nonvoting delegate in Congress, according to an article published in the Washington D.C.-based newspaper The Hill yesterday.

House Resources Committee Richard Pombo, (R-Calif.), who is chief sponsor of the bill, was quoted, however, as saying that he will work with whoever will be the majority leader to get the bill put on the floor and passed this year. Pombo had said in earlier interviews that the U.S. territory has a right to be represented in Congress.

The Hill article says the bill also has the support of prominent GOP leaders including Blunt, Chief Deputy Whip Eric Cantor, Appropriations Committee chair Jerry Lewis and Conference Secretary John Doolittle.

Pombo is reportedly publicly backing Education and the Workforce chair John Boehner’s (R-Ohio) bid to become majority leader.

Pombo spokesman Matt Streit told The Hill: “[Pombo] will work with whoever is majority leader to get the bill passed. He definitely would like to see it on the floor this year.”

CNMI Washington Rep. Pete A. Tenorio had identified the delegate bill as his foremost priority this year and had expressed optimism that it will finally be passed by this Congress.

Noncommittal on delegate bill

When asked whether he would schedule a vote on the bill if he were to win permanent status as majority leader today, the newspaper said that Blunt responded “with a blanket statement” about all bills and committee chairmen

“Chairmen prioritize legislation as it is reported out of their committees,” The Hill quoted Blunt spokeswoman Burson Taylor as saying in an e-mailed response. “Congressman Blunt will work with all of the committee chairmen to move their priority bills across the House floor.”

Blunt is a co-sponsor of the measure.

The House Resources Committee passed the bill in May 2005, the second time it has approved the measure in as many years. But former Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Texas), acting in his position of majority leader, a job that carries the responsibility of scheduling bills for votes on the house floor, failed to move the delegate bill.

Boehner, who is not a co-sponsor of the legislation, also did not commit to a vote on the House floor if he were elected majority leader, according to the article. He reportedly noted, though, that the Northern Mariana Islands is the only U.S. territory that lacks a delegate and that the fact that the Resources Committee has “repeatedly” passed a bill should “advocate for a vote.”

“Expanding congressional representation for any territory is a pretty big decision, one that the conference should discuss and debate,” Boehner spokesman Kevin Smith told The Hill’s Susan Crabtree in an e-mail. “Mr. Boehner has great respect for the bill’s sponsors and would offer them the opportunity to make their case before the conference and our constituents.”

“The fact it’s repeatedly passed Chairman Pombo’s committee would advocate for a vote, as would the fact the CNMI is the only U.S. territory without nonvoting representation,” Smith was quoted as saying.

Michael Steel, spokesman for Rep. John Shadegg (R-Ariz.), who also is running for majority leader, was quoted in the article saying that his boss voted for the delegate bill when it passed the Resources Committee by voice vote in 1996.

“I suppose you can view that as implied support,” Steel told The Hill, though he noted that his boss does not have strong feelings about the matter.

The Resources Committee, which has jurisdiction over territory issues, approved a similar measure in 2004 that never made it to the floor. In 2005, it fell victim to an end-of-the year push to get other bills passed.

Allen did not tell The Hill whether his boss would support or oppose the bill this Congress. He said only that DeLay routinely works with committee chairmen and other members “on legislation that is ready to come to the floor for consideration.”

Last year, the island’s lobbyist, Dan Mattoon, a former aide to Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.), said Hastert told him the bill should be given “full consideration.” (Saipan Tribune)