| Congressman Faleomavaega announced that included in
President Clinton’s budget for the fiscal year 2001 is $33.2 million in
direct grants for American Samoa. The breakdown for this category
was $23.1 million for the operations of the American Samoa Government,
and $10.1 million for capital improvement projects. This is
level funding with the past several years.
“American Samoa remains the only U.S. territory which receives direct
financial aide from the federal government to operate its budget, not as
a reimbursement of taxes or a supplement to cover foreign migration, and
I am pleased that the President elected to continue at $23.1 million that
badly needed support for our local government. As in previous years,
ASG will again have $10.1 million available for construction projects,
which should continue to address the large backlog of projects in this
area,” said Faleomavaega.
“Last week, I appeared before the Fono and spoke in support of ASG
using its benefits from the 46-state tobacco lawsuit to obtain an $18.6
million cash advance. Of this amount, $14 million could be used to
pay off ASG debt, which could further help the local government work itself
out of its current financial problems,” the Congressman continued.
“I am also pleased to see that the President’s budget contains a provision
for that funding source.”
The budget proposes that the Virgin Islands also get advance funding
from FY2002 of $10 million to assist with its construction needs, but the
funding is conditional on the Virgin Islands government establishing financial
and accountability performance standards in cooperation with the Department
of the Interior. This condition is not suggested for ASG’s funding this
year.
“As more details become available concerning other programs with
an impact on American Samoa, I will make them available to the public,”
noted Faleomavaega. |
![[106th Congress]](/faleomavaega/press/press_2000/images/106.jpg)
