WASHINGTON, DC– Today in his farewell address on the House Floor, disgraced Congressman Tom DeLay (R-TX) claimed that “human freedom and human dignity” are bedrock principles of the conservative movement, despite the fact that for more than ten years, DeLay deliberately endorsed the trampling of human dignity of poor women in the Northern Mariana Islands, Congressman George Miller (D-CA) said.

Yesterday, Members of Congress, led by Miller, reintroduced legislation to reform labor and immigration laws in a U.S. territory that DeLay and Republican lobbyist Jack Abramoff protected from scrutiny for over a decade despite strong evidence of dramatic abuses of women there. DeLay will leave Congress tomorrow while still under indictment for money laundering in Texas and Abramoff will enter jail on charges including conspiracy, wire fraud, mail fraud, and tax evasion later this month.

Miller, the senior Democrat on the House Education and Workforce Committee, was joined by Representative Hilda Solis (D-CA), co-chairwoman of the women’s caucus, and Representative John Spratt (D-SC), ranking member on the House Budget Committee, in introducing “The United States-Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas Human Dignity Act” to apply basic labor protections and U.S. immigration laws to the Pacific territory.

“As Representative Tom DeLay prepares to leave Congress he said in the House floor that ‘human freedom and human dignity’ are basic principles that Congress should respect,” said Miller. “But he showed no respect for tens of thousands of the poorest women in the world working to make products for export to the United States. Now that he is leaving, Congress should truly honor human dignity by holding hearings on our new legislation immediately.”

DeLay and Abramoff arranged for appropriations, organized campaign contributions, led tour groups of members of Congress and their staff, and directed money to questionable charities to solidify their power in Washington. In doing so, they ignored well-documented threats to American security, criminal activity, violations of labor law, forced abortions, and human trafficking.

“They were running a protection racket,” said Miller. “DeLay and Abramoff protected the Marianas garment industry from congressional scrutiny and were rewarded handsomely for it with trips, lucrative contracts, campaign money and more. The most exploited women in the world, and the American legislative process, paid the price.

“DeLay used his office to block Congress from considering our bipartisan reforms. He told key committee chairman not to hold hearings on these abuses. The bill we are introducing is a test of whether that protection racket continues today.”

The protection of the abusive industries in the Mariana Islands was part of what the Washington Post recently described as a “criminal enterprise being run out of DeLay's leadership offices.” DeLay extolled the Saipan garment industry as “a perfect petri dish of capitalism” that should be replicated in the mainland U.S. as well.

“I hope that the House Resources Committee will immediately schedule hearings on this legislation,” Miller said. “Not only are the reforms needed to protect workers there, but they are needed so that Congress’ overall changes to federal immigration law do not overlook this gaping opening that the Justice Department tells us can and will be exploited by organized crime and terrorists.”

Additional Information:

1. Statement by Representative Miller
   
2. Legislative and Political Timeline of Republican Inaction on Issues Affecting the CNMI
   
3. Background Information on the bill
   
4. Bill Summary
5. Bill Text (pdf file)
6. Letters to Chairman Pombo, Speaker Hastert, and Majority Leader Boehner (pdf file)

We post many documents in .pdf format. Please visit Adobe to download the free viewer if you do not already have this capability.