Eni Faleomavaega: “This is getting to be an island occasion or something. But at any rate, I do thank the gentleman from Utah and the…”

“This is getting to be an island occasion or something. But at any rate, I do thank the gentleman from Utah and the gentleman from the Northern Marianas for allowing me to comment on this proposed legislation. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 674, the Rota Cultural and Natural Resources Act. First, I want to thank the gentleman from the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, my dear friend Mr. Sablan, for his authorship of this important piece of legislation that will authorize the Secretary of the Interior to study the suitability and feasibility of designating prehistoric, historic, and limestone forest sites on Rota, the southernmost island of CNMI, as a unit of the National Park System. This legislation is critical to CNMI and will enable the preservation of village sites of the ancient Chamorro people and Rota's native limestone forests that provide a habitat for locally and federally endangered listed bird species, including the Mariana crow and the Rota bridled white-eye birds. Mr. Speaker, this legislation previously passed the House in the last Congress, but, unfortunately, the Senate did not have time in its agenda to address the legislation prior to the end of the Congress. Leaders of Rota unanimously support this legislation.…”