| Congressman Faleomavaega recently met with Senator
Inouye to discuss the release of $2 million designated for the American
Samoa Government. Last year, Senator Inouye included a provision
in the Senate Committee Report on the Interior Appropriations Bill directing
the Secretary of the Interior to withhold $2 million until ASG had developed
and implemented a plan to repay hospital vendors in Hawaii. Some
of the outstanding debt, estimated to be more than $11 million, was ten
years past due.
Since the provision was added, ASG has paid approximately $4 million
to Hawaii vendors. “I want to thank Governor Tauese for his initiative
in re-paying the Hawaii health care providers,” Congressman Faleomavaega
said. “In addition to the good faith efforts of ASG, the $18.6 million
tobacco loan agreement includes a plan for repaying creditors. With
all of this taken into consideration, I believe ASG has more than satisfied
the requirements of the provision and as such Samoa should be entitled
to its $2 million,” Faleomavaega said.
According to the Department of the Interior, $900,000 of the $2
million withheld in FY1999 was intended for school improvements.
The remaining $1.1 million was for the aerial tramway project. “Our
schools are in critical need of these funds and ASCC is in critical need
of a library. It is my intention to recommend to the Governor and
the Legislature that the $1.1 million originally allotted for the tramway
be reprogrammed for the construction of the ASCC library,” Congressman
Faleomavaega said.
“More than 1,400 students from all over the Territory are in need
of a state of the art facility for study and learning. In addition, the
library will provide opportunities for both college and high school students
in the surrounding areas to utilize the library in the evenings.
This is something that has never been done in the Territory before,” Congressman
Faleomavaega explained.
The library is also critical to ASCC’s on-going efforts to become
accredited as a four-year institution of higher learning. Congressman
Faleomavaega noted that ASCC has secured $1.5 million for library construction
but the institution is in need of an additional $1.5 million.
“I do not want to take away the importance of building another tramway,”
Congressman Faleomavaega said. “I just honestly believe that the
library is more critical at this time. As such, it is my recommendation
that we build the library first and then we can look to other sources to
assist us with building and maintaining a tramway at a later date.”
“In fact, I will definitely be looking into other sources to provide
appropriate funding for the tramway project,” Congressman Faleomavaega
continued. “But I also believe that we ought to have firm assurances
that we’re going to train people to maintain and run the tramway before
we devote millions of dollars to the project. My concern is that
over the years we have never provided adequate service and maintenance
of the tramway. As a result, we are constantly in need of rebuilding
it.”
“For now, I believe this is a good time for us to reconsider how
we are going to finance and manage the tramway,” Faleomavaega said.
“In the meantime, I believe it is time for us to devote our efforts to
the future of our young people. I am hopeful that Senator Inouye
will agree with me and that we can work together to release these critically
needed funds for our Territory.” |
![[106th Congress]](/faleomavaega/press/press_2000/images/106.jpg)
