| Congressman Faleomavaega announced that the appropriations
bill for the Department of the Interior passed the Appropriations Subcommittee
yesterday on a party line vote. Funding for American Samoa is at
the President’s request of $23 million for operations and $10 million for
construction. Other territories did not fare so well.
“It appears that this year there will not be attacks to American
Samoa’s funding through the Department of the Interior,” said Faleomavaega
after reviewing the results of subcommittee action on the Interior Appropriations
bill. “I am satisfied with our level funding for government operations
and CIP’s, but other areas such as funding for our national park will need
continued support and monitoring.”
Overall funding for the bill is $302 million below last year, and
$1.7 billion below the President’s request. “The party line vote in the
subcommittee is an indication that this bill is in trouble at current funding
levels,” noted the Congressman “and I expect that as the bill moves forward,
the funding will go up. While we look ok for now, Guam was cut $4
million below the President’s request and CNMI $5 below the President’s
request. The only OIA increase was to technical assistance which
was increased $1 million above the President’s request, but is still $1
million below this year’s level.”
In addition to the many cuts made to the President’s initiatives,
the two major areas of contention with the administration are a provision
which would stop development of management plans for national monuments
designated by the President after 1999, and a provision which would prohibit
the Administration from carrying out its plan to manage the Columbia River
Basin in the northwest United States. This plan has been in the making
for seven years, and it controversial in part because it may require the
breaching of dams to facilitate spawning of several species of northwest
salmon. |
![[106th Congress]](/faleomavaega/press/press_2000/images/106.jpg)
