Boggs on Display
In 1991, former Rep. Lindy Boggs (D-La.) became the first and only woman to have a room in the Capitol named for her. That space will now be complete with a portrait of Boggs that will be presented at 3 p.m. today in the Capitol’s Rayburn Room.
Done by artist Ned Bittinger, the portrait will be part of the official collection of the House and will be displayed in Room H-235, the Lindy Claiborne Boggs Congressional Women’s Reading Room. The suite of rooms is adjacent to Statuary Hall and was used as the Speaker’s Office before the House and Senate wings were added to the Capitol in 1857.
Boggs will be present for the unveiling of the portrait and her daughter, Cokie Roberts, will be the mistress of ceremonies for the presentation.
New Delegate? A bipartisan group of House Members introduced a measure late Thursday to establish a Delegate for the commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, a collection of 14 islands north of Guam in the western Pacific Ocean.
The Northern Mariana Islands Delegate Act is co-sponsored by House Resources Chairman Richard Pombo (R-Calif.) and ranking member Nick Rahall (D-W.Va.). The measure would grant the commonwealth the right to elect a nonvoting Delegate to the House who would have the same rights currently provided to American Samoa, the District of Columbia, Guam, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands.
“The CNMI is part of America, and it is imperative that its citizens be involved in the nation’s legislative process,” Pete Tenorio, the commonwealth’s Resident Representative, said in a statement. “Congress regularly includes the CNMI with other U.S. territories in a wide variety of legislation. However, while the laws are enacted and rules and regulations are established that will affect our daily lives, the CNMI is excluded from having a voice in the process.”
Tenorio is elected by voters to represent the commonwealth before Congress and the executive branch.
— Jennifer Lash and Louis Jacobson