Feb. 4, 2002 – Delegate Donna Christian Christensen announced Monday that she will seek re-election to a fourth term representing the territory in the U.S. House of Representatives.
Christensen, a Democrat who is an active member of the Congressional Black Caucus, made her announcement Monday at the end of her annual report on her activities in Congress.
Delegates from the Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, American Samoa, Guam and the District of Columbia are not allowed to vote on bills before the full House of Representatives, but they sit on congressional committees and can vote on issues before those committees.
Christensen said she is able to use her work on committees and in caucuses to gain support among her colleagues on issues important to the Virgin Islands, such as funding for AIDS prevention, road maintenance, health care and education.
In recent years, the Virgin Islands has received nearly $500 million annually in federal funds, according to U.S. Census Bureau statistics. That is up from about $400 million as recently as 1997, she said.
In her speech Monday, Christensen spoke of seeing legislation through Congress last year to forgive the territory's $50 million debt to the Federal Emergency Management Agency incurred after Hurricane Hugo.
She also said she helped the federal and local governments move toward a compliance agreement to protect federal education funding if the V.I. government can show progress toward meeting requirements in financial management and other administrative areas.
Christensen, a licensed physician, chairs the Health Braintrust of the Congressional Black Caucus. In the House, she sits on the Committee on Small Business and the Committee on Resources and is the ranking Democrat on the Resources Committee's Subcommittee on National Parks, Recreation and Public Lands.
She is the first candidate to declare the intention to run for V.I. delegate in the November elections.
