In an interview last week, Sablan said Iowa Republican Congressman Steven King never spoke to Fitial about H.R.1466, which would grant CNMI-only status to CNMI permanent residents and immediate relatives of U.S. citizens.
Sablan said according to King, the vice chairman of the House subcommittee on immigration, his opposition to H.R. 1466 has nothing to do with the governor’s effort to block the measure.
“Mr. King said he never spoke to the governor. According to him, it has nothing to do with Governor Fitial,” Sablan said.
Sablan said a series of meetings were held to discuss his bill prior to the House session. The Republican congressional staffers that the governor claimed he had been working with were not invited to those meetings, Sablan added.
Fitial, the founder of the Covenant Party who now chairs the NMI Republican Party, earlier expressed doubt that Sablan’s bill will pass the GOP-dominated U.S House of Representatives.
The day H.R. 1466 was removed from the bill calendar, the governor told reporters that only two things could happen to Sablan’s measure: it would either be removed from calendar or killed on the floor.
Later that day, he issued a statement hailing House Committee on Natural Resources Chairman Doc Hastings, R-Wa., for removing H.R. 1466 from the bill calendar.
Sablan said he pulled out the bill when Hastings told him that King’s opposition required a two-thirds of the vote instead of a simple majority to pass the measure.
Sablan said his bill is still on the U.S. House calendar.
“We need to work on it,” he added. “This is not about politics. This is to help the families to remain as families.”
King opposed the bill because he said it should have been referred to his subcommittee.
