USVI delegate endorsed for seat on coveted House panel
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| Published on Saturday, April 5, 2008 |
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WASHINGTON, USA: US Virgin Islands delegate to Congress Donna Christensen has received the endorsement of her colleagues in the Congressional Black Caucus for a seat on the coveted House Committee on Energy and Commerce.
The seat became available when Rep. Albert Wynn lost his bid for re-election in a primary election earlier this year and his decision to leave the seat early to return to the private sector.
The Committee, which oversees a broad range of issues in the House of Representatives such as Health, Commerce, Trade and Consumer Protection, Energy and Air Quality, Environment and Hazardous Materials, Telecommunications and the Internet and Oversight and Investigations, is considered one of the most powerful in the law making body.
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| USVI Delegate to Congress Donna M. Christensen |
“This committee which has oversight for healthcare including Medicaid and SCHIP, and also the environment and hazardous material, energy, information technology, and consumer protections, would give me the broad oversight to address most if not all of the challenges that we face in the Virgin Islands,” Christensen said. “That is why it has been a goal of mine to serve on Energy and Commerce from my very first run for this office.”
Competition for membership on this committee is always stiff, but the CBC’s unanimous endorsement and Congresswoman Christensen’s seniority and background as a physician who has been active on health care issues in the Congress are major factors in her favor. On the downside, delegates to Congress are usually not given a seat on this committee because they do not have full voting rights in the body.
However, Christensen has support in the House leadership for the position and she is expected to meet with top leadership next week to solidify her quest for membership on the panel.
CBC Chair Rep. Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick told the National Journal on Thursday that Christensen is a “natural choice for the panel” as she brings “a lot of intellectual ability and a lot of consensus building to the table.”
“I think this is what we need in this Congress,” she said. | | | | Reads : 287 | | | |
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