Torres, in privileged speech during the House session on Monday, said he was very disappointed to learn that Congressman Gregorio Kilili Camacho Sablan “attacked” him in a speech during the recently held economic restoration summit last week.
He said he arrived late at the summit and did not hear Sablan’s speech which never mentioned Torres by name.
The delegate noted that “it’s suddenly fashionable here in the commonwealth to blame our problems on the federal government.”
It was Torres, Ind.-Saipan, who earlier claimed that the U.S. has “screwed” the CNMI.
In his speech on Monday, Torres said Sablan “sounded like another disgruntled statesider who flew off the handle like a ranting ill-informed redneck.”
Sablan’s remarks during the summit focused on the importance of infrastructure development in creating alternative industries in the CNMI.
He said that although he doesn’t always agree with the federal government’s decisions, the U.S. also continues to provide the islands with millions of dollars in funding assistance that has benefited the CNMI.
Torres said Sablan’s reaction was an “outlandish statement that is normally reserved for certain bigoted outsiders and statesiders.”
A resident who was in the House gallery during the session on Monday said Torres should be reprimanded for using language that was offensive, inappropriate and unprofessional.
