WASHINGTON Rep. Pete A. Tenorio says some U.S. lawmakers are opposed to legislation that would give the CNMI a non-voting delegate seat in Congress.
Tenorio, the guest speaker of the Rotary Club of Saipan yesterday, said the bill is not likely to be taken up as this is an election year in the U.S.
“A few of them are not too happy with us,” Tenorio said. “There’s a little bit of resistance— they oppose the bill. I just don’t want to name names now,” Tenorio said.
He said the bill’s passage should not be “rushed.”
“There could always be some opposition to it if you kind of rush it. The thing we need to do is to get our minds together here and present a unified position in the U.S. Congress instead of having a lot of opinions on the same issue,” Tenorio said.
Meanwhile, he added, his office is “diligently” asking more U.S. lawmakers to support the bill, which was introduced by Guam’s delegate to Congress, Robert Underwood.
“Right now, we are at the mercy of our friends,” Tenorio said.
He said having a non-voting delegate in the U.S. Congress will help push CNMI issues in the nation’s capital.
Tenorio at the same time said the CNMI still needs to hire a lobby firm to advance its interests. “The only problem now is funding. Can we afford it?” he said.
The CNMI is the only U.S. insular area without a delegate in Congress.
A U.S. congressman who visited Saipan in 1997 said the CNMI would have to pay federal taxes in return for a non-voting delegate seat.
