U.S. Congressman Gregorio Kilili Camacho Sablan said he and his Guam counterpart, Michael San Nicolas, “are urging consideration” for H.R. 6941, which would create nonvoting delegate seats in the U.S. Senate for American Samoa, the CNMI, Guam, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
Also known as Territorial Representation in the Senate Act, the bill was introduced by San Nicolas.
Kilili in an interview said he co-sponsored the bill, which was also endorsed by the 28-member Congressional Hispanic Caucus. Among the co-sponsors are U.S. Virgin Islands Delegate Stacey Plaskett and Washington D.C. Delegate Eleanor Holmes-Norton.
“The bill has yet to be brought to the [House] floor for a vote, but the sponsors of the bill are urging its consideration,” Kilili said.
According to San Nicolas, “While there is much progress that needs to be made in securing voting rights for the territories, we must not neglect the fact that there is still ground to be gained by securing territorial representation in the Senate.”
He added, “Not only does an elected territorial Senate presence enable us to originate and advocate for policy initiatives of interest to our respective territories, it also benefits the Senate with territorial perspective and input in its deliberations concerning the greater Republic.”
San Nicolas said his bill would give each territory an option to elect a U.S. senatorial delegate.
Territories have nonvoting delegates in the U.S House of Representatives, but not in the Senate.
H.R. 6941 provides that the senatorial delegate of each territory “shall be elected by the people qualified to vote for the popularly elected officials” of the territory.
Like U.S. senators, the senatorial delegates will serve a six-year term.
