“If passed by the House and Senate, this means that American Samoa will be able to send two students to each service academy,” Congressman Faleomavaega said.  “Given that American Samoa has a population of over 57,000 people, a per capita income of less than $4,500 and almost 5,000 men and women serving in the U.S. Armed Services, I am pleased that we may be able to offer more students the opportunity to attend one of our nation’s prestigious military academies.”

       “Academy appointments are now worth about $250,000 each and the education provided by the academies is the best in the world.  At this time, I want to thank the Chairman of the Subcommittee, Congressman John McHugh, for his support of my amendment.  Chairman McHugh and I serve together on the International Relations Committee and I am thankful that as a result of our work together he was able to support my request during today’s mark-up of the Defense Authorization bill.”

       “The bill is now scheduled to be presented to the full Committee on Armed Services and will proceed fairly quickly to the House floor where I believe we will also have full support for this initiative.  Once the authorization has passed the House, I am also looking forward to working with our friends in the Senate to make sure that this provision becomes a matter of law.”

       “Once again, I thank Chairman McHugh, the Ranking Member and the Department of Defense for their support and assistance in increasing American Samoa’s academy nominations,” the Congressman concluded.