On the recordOctober 3, 2011
I yield myself such time as I may consume. It is my pleasure to be here on this particular bill, H.R. 670. It conveys, as was mentioned in the title, 3 miles of submerged lands to the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. This authority will give the Pacific territory similar authority and benefits as are currently enjoyed by many coastal States and other U.S. territories, specifically Guam, the Virgin Islands and American Samoa. The last Congress passed similar legislation out of the House by a rollcall vote of 416-0, and I hope we can beat that record today. I am pleased to have been able to work on this, and I thank the gentleman from the Northern Marianas (Mr. Sablan) for actually presenting this particular bill to us. It is a good piece of legislation. I reserve the balance of my time.
