Sablan in an interview yesterday said H.R. 1466 would have been passed on the House floor by a simple majority if not for the opposition of Iowa Republican Congressman Steve King, the vice chairman of the immigration subcommittee.
Because of King’s opposition, the bill had to be passed by two-thirds of the members, Sablan said.
Sablan said he knew his bill would not get the required two-thirds vote so when House Natural Resources Chairman Doc Hastings, R-Wa., asked him “what’s your decision?” the CNMI lawmaker pulled out the bill.
“If I did not do that, we would have gotten the majority vote but not two-thirds.”
He said he does know any other immigration bill that has “gotten this close” to passage in the Republican-controlled House.
Sablan said King’s main concern is that H.R. 1466 is an immigration bill but was not reviewed by his subcommittee.
Sablan admitted that immigration is a very difficult issue in the U.S. Congress.
He said most members “don’t object to it, but they may not support it because it’s an immigration bill. Don’t forget that. It’s a very difficult issue. So I’m going to go back and talk to them some more and try to figure how to address the concerns they have. There are ways to do this,” Sablan said.
He noted that despite Gov. Benigno R. Fitial’s lobbying efforts against the bill, U.S. House members still considered it.
It even went to the floor, Sablan said.
King “did not close the door entirely,” he added.
“We will reason with him [King] and find a way to address his concerns. My goal here is to keep families together and I think there’s a way to do that,” Sablan said.
H.R. 1466 will also benefit those born here from Jan. 1974 to Jan. 1979 and those given permanent residency by the CNMI government.
