The U.S. Virgin Islands Centennial Commission Act is one step closer to becoming law, after it passed the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform with a unanimous vote on Tuesday, a press release issued by Delegate to Congress Stacey Plaskett’s office reveals. Above, Chritiansted in 1941 (Credit: Jack Delano, via V.I. Centennial 2017).
“I am grateful for the support of my colleagues in the Oversight Committee and I am hopeful that their support will help move this important legislation forward. My staff and I will continue to work toward bringing this legislation to the House floor for a vote in the near future,” Mrs. Plaskett said.
The Act, H.R.2615, will create a Congressional Commission to plan and carryout local and national events related to the 1917 transfer of the Virgin Islands for Denmark to the United States.
Mrs. Plaskett, a freshman congresswoman, says she “expects the commission to not only bring a national awareness to the events commemorating the transfer, but to also assist the local Virgin Islands Centennial Commission with the efforts already underway.”
Shortly after taking office last year, Mrs. Plaskett began working with the U.S. Department of Interior’s Office of Insular Affairs, which subsequently announced $500,000 in grant funding to the local Centennial Commission to assist in the initial planning of activities.
Once formed, the Congressional Commission will engage other lawmakers in Congress and the Obama administration in a new national discussion around the issues that still exist in the Virgin Islands and American’s other Island territories, according to the release.
Mrs. Plaskett’s Centennial Commission Act, which was introduced alongside a resolution (H.R. 2615) to create a postal stamp commemorating the historical 1917 event, has already garnered the support of more than 70 members of Congress.
The territory will commemorate the centennial anniversary of the Transfer on March 31, 2017.
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