Kimberlyn King-Hinds, the delegate representing the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) in the U.S. House of Representatives, said the territory’s status as a non-state prevents it from voting for the House Speaker. Her remarks follow Virgin Islands Delegate Stacey Plaskett’s recent critique of the exclusion of U.S. territories from the Jan. 3 roll call vote for the speaker.
Plaskett raised the issue during the House session, questioning why delegates from American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, and Washington, D.C., were omitted. She pointed out that these territories collectively represent millions of Americans, stating, “This body and this nation has a territories and colonies problem. What was supposed to be temporary has now effectively become permanent. We must do something about this problem.”
King-Hinds cited Article I, Section 2 of the U.S. Constitution, which specifies that the House of Representatives is composed of members chosen by the people of the states. “Because we are not a state, we don’t have the constitutional authority to be able to cast the final votes on any legislation,” she said. “However, we can still serve on committees and vote in those committees. We can introduce legislation and still participate in the debates.”
While King-Hinds acknowledges the importance of having a final vote in Congress, she said the matter requires broader discussion within the CNMI community. She suggested that the issue could be addressed through either a constitutional amendment or statehood for the CNMI.
“To fully understand and flesh out what the ramifications are… at this point in time, I do not have an opinion on whether or not CNMI should become a state or not,” King-Hinds said. “That is not for me to decide.”
King-Hinds was officially sworn in on Jan. 3 as the delegate for the CNMI in the U.S. House of Representatives.
