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Congresswoman Madeleine Z. Bordallo My Dear People of Guam: It is humbling and at the same time a great honor for me to report to you on the year that has passed and the challenges ahead. Together, we have accomplished much in the last year, but we have much more to do. Many tasks great and small await us. The second session of the 108th Congress convened on January 20 with the traditional State of the Union address from the President before a joint session of Congress. My guest at the session was a young First Lieutenant from Fort Bragg, North Carolina, Peter Cruz of Latte Heights. I invited Lieutenant Cruz to be my guest to represent all the young men and women from Guam serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. He is an infantry platoon leader who spent ten months in Iraq and participated in the liberation of Baghdad. Our people can be proud of Lieutenant Cruz and of all those wearing the uniform and serving our nation in these very dangerous times. We commend the service of our Guam National Guard and Guam Army Reserve as they respond to deployment orders in the months to come. We continue to pray for the safe return of our troops and we mourn together the passing of Army Specialist Christopher Wesley, who paid the ultimate price in Iraq. We also acknowledge the sacrifices of the families of our service members who support their loved ones. Let us also keep them in our prayers. This will be a year where events in Iraq and Afghanistan will continue to shape the national agenda and where the federal budget will continue to be constrained by the cost of fighting terrorism at home and abroad. It will be a year where initiatives to stimulate the national economy will remain at center stage, and where domestic issues on education and health care will dominate the national debate. In this environment, I will continue to work with our local leadership to, first, watch for Guam's interests on national legislation and, second, to make progress on our own issues, looking for opportunities to move forward wherever possible. Of all the challenges that I can foresee, the most daunting will be continuing the progress towards resolution of Guam war claims. Together, we laid the groundwork for a resolution in the hearings held here on December 8 and 9, 2003 by the Guam War Claims Review Commission. This Commission, appointed by the Secretary of the Interior, is expected to issue its report and recommendations to the Congress this summer. It is the first federal Commission to review the facts and circumstances of the Guam war claims process after World War II, and its findings and recommendations will be critical to the resolution of this issue. I want to recognize the efforts and hard work that Congressman Robert Underwood put into passing the Guam War Claims Review Commission Act. He built on progress made by former Congressmen Tony Won Pat and Ben Blaz, putting it over the top with his efforts. The progress we have made on the war claims issue is due in large part to the enormous work and dedication of my predecessors. They had done so much before me that our efforts followed seamlessly. I acknowledge their work and I thank them for their contributions. Chairman Mauricio Tamargo, Vice Chairman Tony Unpingco, Commissioners Benjamin J. Cruz, Ruth Van Cleve and Robert Lagomarsino have an enormous responsibility. I know they were moved by the courageous testimony of the 200 people who testified at the War Claims hearing. I believe that the Guam War Claims Review Commission will take into account these personal stories in finding a resolution that is fair and just for our people who suffered through the Japanese occupation. Senator Fernandez has taken a very strong interest in this issue and she is to be commended for having stayed and listened for the entire eighteen hours of the hearing. Once the Guam War Claims Review Commission submits its report, Congress will review the Commission's findings and recommendations. I intend to develop legislation to implement the recommendations of the Commission and I will seek the assistance and support of the Governor, the Legislature and our community as we try to bring closure to this issue for the people of Guam. Guam is fortunate that key policy makers who will have an important role in the outcome of the Guam war claims issue visited our island recently. Representative Richard Pombo, Chairman of the House Committee on Resources, led a Congressional Delegation of seven Members of Congress, including myself, to Guam from January 16 to 18. We were accompanied by the Secretary of the Interior, the Honorable Gale Norton and other officials from the Office of Insular Affairs. I don't believe that we have ever been fortunate in the past to have both the Chairman and the Secretary on a joint visit, and we stand to benefit in the future from their interest and their dedication to insular area issues. Governor Camacho and I hosted the Congressional Delegation on your behalf, and our island's famous Chamorro hospitality won their hearts. I thank all of you who worked so hard on this visit, and I thank Speaker Pangelinan and our Senators for their participation and their involvement in the issues that were raised for the CODEL. One of the highlights of the Congressional Delegation's visit was Secretary Norton's presentation of the $14.2 million grant in Compact-impact assistance for Guam. These funds can be used to build schools, repair school buses, buy textbooks, or buy medical supplies. Guam had two key provisions in that bill: authority for debt relief and the doubling of Compact-impact aid for the affected jurisdictions from $15 million to $30 million. The grant recently signed by Secretary Norton is the first of twenty years of increased assistance in mandatory funding for Guam, Hawaii and the Northern Marianas. I am very grateful to Governor Camacho and Speaker Pangelinan for traveling to Washington last July to testify in favor of my debt reconciliation bill, which was eventually incorporated into the final version of House Joint Resolution 63. Their joint appearance before the House Committee on Resources demonstrated a united front on the Compact-impact issues and they made a compelling case for debt reconciliation. Our combined efforts, and our collaboration with the Hawaii Congressional delegation, were successful because Chairman Richard Pombo and Ranking Member Nick Rahall responded to our concerns. The debt reconciliation provision in House Joint Resolution 63 is for past un-reimbursed Compact-impact costs. This provision authorizes debt relief, but it is not automatic. Debt relief requires a number of specific steps that must be completed. First, the Governor of Guam must produce a report of past un-reimbursed costs to the Secretary of the Interior by April 16 and this report must be substantiated by an independent accounting firm. Second, the Governor must make a request to the President to grant a reduction or waiver of any amounts owed by the Government of Guam to the federal government. The President has until February 28, 2005 to exercise his authority, and he has until December 31, 2004 to notify Congress of his intention to use this authority. We have estimated that Guam has incurred as much as $187 million in un-reimbursed Compact-impact costs during the seventeen years of the first Compact agreement. We all have to work with the Governor to convince the President to grant this assistance in recognition of the effects of immigration from the Compacts. I will ask Chairman Pombo, Ranking Member Rahall and other Congressional leaders to support the Governor's request. We encourage a dialogue locally on debt relief and legislative oversight for this process. The challenge ahead is to achieve debt relief, and if we continue to work together, then we increase the likelihood that we will ultimately be successful. Let me put it this way … this is the Super Bowl and Team Guam is in the red zone. We can score a touchdown with full debt relief, we can score a field goal with partial debt relief, but please, do not fumble the ball! These Compact-impact provisions will help to ease the burden of a slow economy. In addition to the $14.2 million Compact-impact reimbursement, we worked to provide an additional $10.6 million in State Fiscal Relief funds to the Government of Guam for Fiscal Years 2003 and 2004. Altogether, that adds up to a $39 million cash infusion for GovGuam through the end of 2004. To further help the economy recover, we worked to increase military construction spending on Guam by $37 million this year. In the next few months, Congress will take up the re-authorization of federal highway funds and we will be working together to increase Guam's formula allocation for highway construction. In addition, the Governor, Senator Cunliffe and I made the case to the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure for additional funds for specific projects including Hagåtña River flood control mitigation and the wharf extension at the Port of Guam. We will continue our joint efforts to ensure that Guam gets its fair share of highway projects. Each of us here realizes that the military is a partner in our economic growth. Like a good neighbor their contributions to our community provide jobs and military construction spending has a multiplier effect in our economy. The military is growing with us. The USS Houston will arrive in a few weeks, making it the third fast attack submarine to call Guam home. Last year, I toured Fena Reservoir with Admiral Dunne and discussed the improvements that were needed to bring Fena to its production potential to supply both Navy and Guam Waterworks requirements. I am therefore pleased to announce that the Navy has proposed $20.7 million to upgrade the water treatment plant in Fiscal Year 2005. The Navy is also planning to spend over $12 million on improvements to the wharfs at Apra Harbor. Together with the Air Force, Guam will see over $100 million in new military construction projects in the next two years. As a member of the House Committee on Small Business, I will work to ensure that small businesses on Guam have a level playing field to bid on all federal contracting opportunities. Our economy needed these boosts, and federal resources will continue to prime the economy until our visitor industry fully recovers. Beyond the increased spending that we have received and those that we anticipate, we are working with the Governor, the Legislature, the Chamber of Commerce and our community to encourage increased use of the military bases here, both in port visits and in permanent stationing of new units. However, we are facing a difficult task this year as the new base closure round begins, which has already been dubbed in the national media as "the mother of all base closures". As much as twenty percent of overall capacity nationwide will be reduced, and the decisions will be much more difficult than in the past Base Realignment and Closure, or BRAC, rounds in 88, 91, 93 and 95. While we are confident that our strategic location and threats in Asia make Guam an invaluable military asset, we cannot take anything for granted. The transformed military will be more agile and smaller, and units may be based stateside while using forward bases for rotational deployments. We must make a case that Guam wants to host permanent units, possibly including an air wing, an aircraft carrier, or more submarines and support ships. I cannot emphasize enough the importance of working together in a bipartisan manner to prepare for BRAC 05, and we need to review our community's support of the military mission. Our competitors are already mobilizing. Hawaii and California are taking steps to protect their bases, and Florida has provided $250 million to its communities to improve highways for military base access. We should develop our strategy with input from our community. We should also review policy areas where we can be helpful to the military mission, such as on environmental issues. That is why I will continue to work with federal agencies and local leaders to help the Air Force resolve access issues for landlocked northern landowners. The BRAC Commission will be appointed in March 2005 and two months later the Secretary of Defense will submit his list of base closures to the Commission. The Commission will give its list of base closures to the President on September 8, 2005. If we wait until next year to prepare, we may be well behind our competitors. Our task this year is to work with the Governor and the Legislature to develop a BRAC 05 coordinated strategy. In 2003 we made a concerted effort to maximize the opportunity for Government of Guam agencies to apply for and win competitive federal grants. Our Guam Grants Desk in my District Office has been a valuable resource. As of December 31, we have issued 660 notices of funding availability to 2,336 eligible applicants for $160 million in competitive grants for GovGuam agencies and local non-profits. The Guam Grants Desk uses the most advanced search engines and is connected to the best web resources available through the Congress's own networks and our service to GovGuam agencies is at no cost to the users. We are committed to leveraging federal resources to improve the quality of education and healthcare for our island. Congress will be reviewing higher education programs this session and we hope to expand opportunities for the University of Guam, so that the University can continue to grow and to contribute to the enrichment of our community. With the President's emphasis on the role of community colleges in training the workforce to meet the challenges of the 21st century, our challenge will be to ensure that the Guam Community College benefits from these new initiatives. Congress will continue to address health care issues this session, and many believe as I do that the Medicare Prescription Drug bill was inadequate. Our challenge will be to fight for the insular areas so that we can all reap the benefits of the new programs. We anticipate that new opportunities to make our case will emerge as a result of Congressman Dan Burton's recent visit, and we will use these opportunities to call attention to the unequal treatment of territories in Medicaid and Medicare. In addition, there will be unforeseen crises which may require federal assistance, such as the ongoing neonatal crisis at the hospital. To help spark our economy, I want to add my voice to those who support the privatization of the Guam Telephone Authority. This can be done in a humane and rational way, where workers have reasonable assurances of job security. However, we must all recognize that it is time to let go of the last government run telephone company in America. With the debt reconciliation provisions that Congress passed, it is very possible that the sale of Guam Telephone Authority would result in a significant infusion of funds to the Government of Guam if the Governor requests and the President grants relief for some or all of GTA's $105 million debt to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. If the Legislature and the Governor agree on this issue, then surely we can be mutually supportive of the overall effort to get the privatization moving in time to reap the benefits of the debt reconciliation provision before that relief expires at the end of this year. GTA's sale could mean new funds for schools, water improvements or other necessary infrastructure that will only stimulate our economy. To help the economy, the Government of Guam can now take advantage of new authority to use Community Development Block Grant funds for long term financing as a result of passage of the Insular Areas Community Development Act. We recently met with officials from the Department of Housing and Urban Development to urge the implementation of this program by issuing the new federal regulations in accordance with the new law. Every bit helps, and construction spending by the Government of Guam means new jobs and new spending in the economy by workers employed by the construction funds. I want to recognize Senator Leon Guerrero for her assistance with this bill, and Senator Sanford for her sage advice on Government of Guam financing issues. I appreciate their involvement and support and the input that Senator Tenorio provided. The challenge ahead is to make sure that HUD implements this program as Congress envisioned, and I will be working to see that this happens. I continue to work on long term issues that will help our economy. Last February, I asked the Interagency Group on Insular Areas to help us implement a Philippine Visa Waiver program and a China-Visa Waiver program under the authority of the Guam-only Visa Waiver provisions. I also asked the Interagency Group to review cabotage issues that Senator Lujan has raised with me. The Interagency Group will meet again later this month and I will request an update on their progress. I recognize that right now the highest priority of the Department of Homeland Security, the State Department and the Justice Department is to close the loopholes and to tighten border security. I support these efforts, but will continue to argue that new technology, including biometrics and computer databases, should help ease the way for legitimate visitors who pose no security risks to our nation. Governor Camacho, Senator Lujan, Senator Fernandez, Senator Respicio, and Senator Cunliffe have been very much involved in this issue and this effort. While we do not expect any dramatic results this year, we must continue to make our case to the federal agencies and to the Interagency Group on Insular Areas. The Legislature's recent resolution conveying their support is a needed boost to this effort. These are highlights of the major challenges ahead and our progress to date. We have been busy, and we have had other successes that we do not need to list here. I wanted to keep my Address brief because I have learned that as a freshman Member of Congress, I have to be brief and I have to be disciplined in my use of time. I have learned a great deal in the past year, much of which has been imparted to me by Congressman Underwood and Congressman Blaz. One of the important lessons of this year has been the value of listening - a lesson learned from many Congressional hearings where the freshman member is the last to speak and where everything you might want to say has already been said. I can be more effective when I listen to you and understand your concerns. The veterans on Guam gave me an earful about the responsiveness of the Veterans Administration at my village meetings, and by listening to these concerns we have been able to address many of the veterans' issues. Senator Respicio and the Governor's Veterans Affairs Office have been very helpful in working with us on this issue. This Saturday, February 7, federal VA officials and I will be announcing the formation of a Veterans Advisory Board at a Veterans Town Hall meeting that I am hosting at the Hilton Hotel. I want to improve my dialogue with our leaders and our community. I want to listen to your concerns. I have learned of a regional recycling initiative from Senators Rory Respicio and Tina Muna Barnes, and I have learned of issues with the Section 30 allotments and the immigration fees from Senator Tina Muna Barnes. Senator John Quinata has been an advocate on law enforcement and customs issues and Senator Cunliffe has been helpful on Judiciary issues. Senator Frank Aguon informed me of budget issues and District Court Judge Unpingco has been helpful in bringing the Ordot landfill consent decree issues to the forefront. We have to work together to make progress on these issues, and while we have no guarantee of success, we can be effective advocates for Guam. For years Speaker Pangelinan has fought to protect the independence and authority of the Guam Supreme Court. He and Senator Cunliffe have expressed their interest in having Congress pass the Judiciary reform bill this year, which would guarantee Guam's Judiciary as a co-equal branch of government. I am committed to moving this issue in this session. I have also heard many of your comments regarding political status and whether or not a plebiscite will be held this year. We will work with the Governor and the Legislature on this issue as they consider this important question and develop a new strategy. My goal this year is to be a more effective listener, and to enhance the relationships with all of Guam's leaders across party lines. It is my goal to talk less and listen more. I would like to pay particular attention to our Legislative leaders in the coming year. To improve our dialogue, my District Office has a new teleconference system that is tied in to my Washington office. We plan to improve our dialogue with our local leaders and our constituents with this teleconference system, and we will be hosting meetings with federal officials in Washington to discuss your concerns. When I took office last year, Guam was recovering from Supertyphoon Pongsona and my District Office could not open due to typhoon damage. Like all of you, we adapted, we improvised and we reported for duty. We were fortunate to have a smooth transition and we were fortunate that our people were very patient with our start up. My first bill was a tribute to a Guam hero, Commander Willie McCool, pilot of the Space Shuttle Columbia. My bill named a Department of Defense school in his honor. We ended the year by honoring the heroism of the people of Guam who had endured the occupation by holding a public hearing on December 8 to recount their stories of courage and patriotism. It is fitting that in our work on federal issues, which consumes our energy and attention, that we keep our perspective on what is really important in life by reflecting on our own heroes and their contributions to our island and our nation. Heroes lift us up by reminding us of a greater calling, and a greater purpose. Those of us in public service need these reminders from time to time because it helps us to keep a balanced perspective on our work. I want to thank you for allowing me to give this Congressional Address today. I am grateful for many things this past year, including the excellent cooperation shown by the Governor and the Legislature for our work, the support of the Mayors on the Compact-impact issues, the assistance of the Chamber of Commerce and the community support for our initiatives. Governor Camacho was very gracious in his speech the other day, and I thank him and I also commend him for the very good working relationship we have developed and for our bipartisan approach to federal issues. Speaker Pangelinan and the Legislature have been very helpful and supportive, and I very much appreciate the level of cooperation and collaboration that we have attained. I also want to thank my staff in the District Office on Guam and in Washington, for their dedication and their service to our island. Finally, I sincerely thank the People of Guam
for giving me their confidence to represent them in Congress. It is truly
an honor. Not a day goes by that I do not offer a prayer of thanks for
this rare privilege and to thank my family for making Guam our home 56
years ago. Growing up here I learned many Chamorro values and traditions
that I have taken to heart, and I find these values useful in my role as a
Member of Congress. I do not know any other way to express my gratitude
than to offer my sincerest, Dankulo na Si Yu'os Ma'ase, Maraming Salamat
Po and Thank You Very Much. God Bless Guam, God Bless America. |
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