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Rules package in Congress brings changes for territorial Delegates

U.S.Capitol Building
Locally, recently elected faipule will be sworn in today at noon
fili@samoanews.com

Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — With Democrats set to control the US House when the 116th Congress convenes this afternoon, the House Democratic leadership will move to — again — allow Delegates from the US territories and the District of Columbia to vote in the Committee of the Whole.

The action is among several amendments in the House Democrats rules package for the 116th Congress, publicly released New Year’s Day by House Speaker-Designate Nancy Pelosi and US Rep. James P. McGovern (D-MA), incoming Chairman of the House Committee on Rules.

The rules packages — through House Resolution #6 — was accompanied by a separate joint statement by Pelosi and McGovern, titled: “Democrats deliver on promises to modernize Congress, return to regular order, and restore ethics and accountability.”

“This Democratic rules package is the result of unprecedented consultation across our caucus and the Congress. We asked every Member for their ideas, from the longest-serving to the newly elected and spent months vetting ideas” said McGovern.

According to the House Democratic leaders, the rules package will be introduced and voted on once the new Congress convenes today.  Among the the proposed rules is a subsection that would allow Delegates from American Samoa, Guam, Northern Mariana Islands, U.S. Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, and the District of Columbia to vote in the House Committee of the Whole.

The proposed rule also provides that any recorded vote in the Committee of the Whole, decided within a margin where the Delegates may have had a decisive impact on the final outcome of the vote, will be re-conducted in the House.

Another proposed amendment allows the delegates to serve on House joint committees.

According to national media reports, when the Republicans took control of the House in 2011, the GOP took away these voting rights for the Delegates that were restored in 2007 by the House Democratic leaders.

The rules package, under a subsection amendment, titled: “Admittance to the Hall of the House”, also adds the Delegates-elect, contestants in elections for Delegate and Governors of the Territories, to the list of people who are permitted in the Hall of the House.

What remains unchanged is that Delegates do not vote on final passage of legislation on the House floor.  Details of the Democratic rules package are available at www.house.gov

Meanwhile, American Samoa’s Republican Congresswoman Aumua Amata will join her colleagues for their swearing-in ceremony this afternoon (Washington D.C. time) on Capitol Hill. Aumua is serving a third consecutive two-year term following last November’s mid-term elections.

For the local House of Representatives, the swearing-in ceremony for the new faipule of the 36th Legislature gets underway at 12noon today.