January 19, 1998

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

WASHINGTON, D.C. ---- FALEOMAVAEGA TO BID FOR RANKING DEMOCRAT ON FISHERIES SUBCOMMITTEE

      Congressman Faleomavaega announced today that it is his intention to bid on January 20th for the senior Democrat position on the Fisheries Subcommittee within the House Committee on Resources.

      "In the 106th Congress, I am listed as the sixth most senior Democrat on the Committee on Resources," said Faleomavaega. "The Senior Democrat (Rep. George Miller of California) does not take a subcommittee ranking position, and the 2nd, 3rd and 4th most senior Democrats have ranking positions on other House committees. The 5th most senior Democrat is expected to bid for the Water and Power Subcommittee, which leaves the ranking positions on National Parks, Fisheries, Minerals, and Forests available to me. I have wanted to be the senior Democrat on the Fisheries Subcommittee in the past, but I never had the seniority to get it before."

      The Senior Democrat on a subcommittee works with the Senior Democrat on the full committee and committee staff to set the Democratic committee agenda for the Congress. "The Chairman and Ranking Democrat often try to move forward with as much of a common agenda as practical in an effort to pass important legislation," noted the Congressman, "and with the slimmest majority in decades, the Republicans will have to work with the Democrats for two years or accomplish very little."

      "The Fisheries Subcommittee is important to American Samoa because of the 3,500 people directly employed in the fisheries industry in American Samoa, the 35 purse seiners which unload their fish in our territory, and the thousands of people working in industries related to fisheries," said Faleomavaega. "Additionally, the subcommittee has jurisdiction over federal funding for our coastal zone management program, all federal fisheries programs in American Samoa, and the Fagatele Bay National Marine Sanctuary."

      "I look forward to using this opportunity to help American Samoa better position itself to use it largest natural resource -- its oceans -- to further its economic development," concluded Faleomavaega.

      The jurisdiction of the Subcommittee on Fisheries Conservation, Wildlife and Oceans includes fisheries management and fisheries research generally; the Magnuson- Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act; wildlife resources, including research, restoration, refuges and conservation; all matters pertaining to the protection of coastal and marine environments; oceanography; coastal zone management; marine sanctuaries; and the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea.