[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 161 (2015), Part 6]
[House]
[Page 8658]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




              URGING SUPPORT OF H.R. 2615 AND H. RES. 291

  (Ms. PLASKETT asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Ms. PLASKETT. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to ask my colleagues to join 
me in support of H.R. 2615 and H. Res. 291, both of which I introduced 
earlier this week.
  Nearly a century ago, the United States purchased the Virgin Islands 
from Denmark for its geopolitical importance. The citizens of the 
Virgin Islands of the United States commemorate the events of that 
date, March 31, 1917, each year.
  Mr. Speaker, H. Res. 291 asks the United States Postal Service to 
create a commemorate stamp in honor of the centennial.
  The purpose of H.R. 2615 will form a bipartisan congressional 
commission to research, plan, develop, and carry out activities the 
commission considers appropriate to commemorate the 100th anniversary.
  The commission will bring a national awareness to the events 
commemorating the centennial, engage lawmakers here in Congress, as 
well as the administration, and a new national discussion around the 
relationship and place of the Virgin Islands with the United States.
  The coming centennial anniversary of the inclusions of the Virgin 
Islands in America affords us an opportunity to revisit this history 
and our ongoing relationship. It is also an opportunity to highlight 
the enormous contributions to the United States by Virgin Islanders and 
the richness of our Virgin Islands heritage.

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