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Congressman Faleomavaega announced today that he is providing an update regarding his request to convert 30A into a direct payment of $18 million to ASG.
“Yesterday,” Faleomavaega said, “Samoa News contacted my office stating that it had received information that the $18 million for American Samoa that was inserted in the American Jobs and Closing Tax Loopholes Act was ‘stripped’ by the U.S. Senate before their final vote.”
“My office informed Samoa News that everything except unemployment benefits was stripped by the Senate and that the $18 million is still in place in the tax extenders package and when the Senate finds the 60th vote it needs for cloture, hopefully it will move forward.”
“In reporting this, Samoa News stated that I said that H.R. 4213 still contains the provision. This is not what I said. As I clearly stated, the Senate stripped H.R. 4213 of everything except unemployment benefits.”
“This means that the remaining portion, which includes tax extenders and American Samoa’s $18 million request, will now need to be re-bundled. In my press release of June 29, 2010, I said this might happen. Specifically, when the Senate did not get the 60 votes it needed to overcome a Republican filibuster and when H.R. 4213 was tabled, I stated:
‘I believe our country will pull together and get a tax extenders bill done and extend unemployment benefits for the millions of Americans who need help and need help now. This may mean that Congress will re-bundle tax extenders or unemployment benefits in different packages.’
“It turns out this is what has happened. Yesterday, the Senate passed unemployment benefits via a stripped version of H.R. 4213 and now the Senate is working to re-bundle tax extenders in a different package. If the Senate finds the 60th vote it needs to overcome another Republican filibuster, then the Senate will attach the tax extenders package to some other legislative vehicle and send it back to the House for passage.”
“When this might happen or what the new bill number may be, I do not know. What I do know is that the $18 million request for American Samoa is only a small provision in a multi-billion dollar tax extenders package and, so far, our provision is still alive.”
“I hope this more detailed explanation clears up any misunderstandings and I thank Samoa News for its correction,” Faleomavaega concluded.
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![[United States Congress]](congress.gif)
