{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["http://sablan.house.gov/press-release/senate-adds-immigration-transition-policies-house-insular-energy-bill", "Senate adds immigration transition policies to House insular energy bill", "2014-09-19", "2014", "2014-09", "Independent", "Senate", "MP", "Gregorio Sablan", "S001177", "sablan.house.gov", null, null, "legacy", "In a flurry of last minute actions on Thursday night, the Senate added language extending three Northern Marianas immigration policies to H.R.83 , an insular areas energy bill, then passed the combined bill and sent it back to the House. The three policies \u2013 a bar on claims of asylum in the NMI, an exemption from the numerical cap on H visas for the Marianas, and the E-2CNMI investor visa \u2013 will all expire on December 31. The extension would keep the policies in place until the end of 2019. The House passed H.R.83 earlier this week. Introduced by Congresswoman Donna Christensen (D-Virgin Islands), the bill requires the Secretary of the Interior to put together energy teams that would work with American Samoa, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, Guam, the Virgin Islands, and the Freely Associated States on lowering the cost of electricity. Currently, residential customers in the NMI pay 40 cents per kilowatt-hour \u2013 three times the U.S. average. Getting legislation enacted is not easy and can require pursuing many different paths at the same time. Both the immigration policies and the insular energy provisions of H.R.83 are also parts of my Omnibus Territories bill, H.R. 2200, and its Senate companion, S.1237, which passed the Senate on June 18. The immigration policies are also included in my bill H.R. 4296, which was ordered reported by the House Natural Resources Committee on May 29.", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["http://sablan.house.gov/press-release/senate-adds-immigration-transition-policies-house-insular-energy-bill"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.685341889038682, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}