Washington, D.C. — Congresswoman Uifa’atali Amata testified Thursday before the Interior Appropriations Subcommittee regarding American Samoa’s Operations funding derived from the Department of the Interior’s Office of Insular Affairs (OIA), in which she requested an increase based on inflation concerns, while defending current funding based on the long term need for a modernized hospital.

Notably, President Biden’s budget request for the next fiscal year only includes a limited $10 million increase for the OIA, encompassing seven jurisdictions: four of the U.S. Territories and three Freely Associated States. Last year, Congresswoman Amata secured a record $2.5 million increase, directed to planning for a hospital. After decades of level funding, for the past five years straight, Congress has approved increases to ASG Operations at Amata’s request, totaling about $4.4 million in steady increments.

 “While the worst is behind most states on the mainland USA, 7,000 miles away in the Pacific, Omicron rages. American Samoa is at its worst state since the pandemic outbreak, with over 4,000 new cases in the past few weeks. The Governor has implemented a Code Red lockdown which will last for the foreseeable future,” Amata said to the Committee.

“The Federal Government has responded quickly and forcefully. I accompanied a FEMA response team to American Samoa a few weeks ago, and we in American Samoa appreciate their support as our health care system has been overwhelmed. FEMA has contracted 40 healthcare professionals – doctors, nurses, and technicians – to help us out at our hospital, which the Army Corps has reported to Congress is in a state of ‘abject failure’.

 “Adding to the difficulties, over 1000 of my constituents were stranded away from home for more than one year when our borders were closed as a protective measure against the pandemic.  I, myself, could not get back to my own district for 16 months. Even when I had the opportunity to travel home with the FEMA team, it was for a short time as I was called back to Washington,” she stated.

“My goal is to get my people home and to get them the care that they so need and deserve, so I humbly ask this Committee to help us get a functioning hospital which the primary charge of the DOI/OIA/ASG account. Additional funding will be needed from other agencies such as DOD, VA, HHS, and the local government, but this committee’s help is crucial as Interior is the lead. I hope that this Committee can work with other agencies to find comprehensive funding and execute on updating our hospital consistent with the ARMY Corps findings reported to Congress almost three years ago.

 “Time and inflation are making costs higher now as well, so we desperately need an inflation increase to offset rising costs of maintaining, improving, and replacing our hospital. Inflation and Covid have taken their toll physically and economically in American Samoa. The outbreak of COVID-19 in the Pacific Island Countries and Territories (PICTs) in 2020 led to many job losses, especially in the tourism and fishing industries we rely on,” she noted.

 “We were last to receive unemployment relief months, after the rest of country was getting their last checks we were getting our first, because it took that long for the labor department to implement a program there. Similarly, we were shut out of the initial PPP and EIDL small business funds. We are often last in receiving government programs, but we are almost always in the first wave to serve in our military of which we are so proud,” she continued.

“Adjustments were made, and while the American Rescue Plan and other Covid relief measures have been a significant aid the past two years, inflation is exacerbated in marine-based island economies where food and fuel must be shipped in. And local fishermen’s fuel costs have skyrocketed while the Chinese continue to illegally fish around our EEZ and marine monuments, seizing even more market share while we play fairly by the international rules that restrict our fishing days.

 “Cement is also now in short supply and nearly doubled in cost along with lumber due to worldwide building boom,” Amata said. “The pandemic aid was much-needed, but the consequence and reality of current inflation has been harder for us compared to most jurisdictions in the country due to our remoteness.

 “So, I ask you, Chair Pingree and Ranking Member Joyce, to please look at the well documented record of the Army Corps of Engineers findings for the need for hospital funding and proffered options that range in the hundreds of millions of dollars,” she concluded. “These costs have only risen due to inflation.”

NEW PANDEMIC RELIEF BILL

Congresswoman Uifa’atali Amata has cosponsored the bipartisan Restaurant Relief for Restaurants and other Hard Hit Small Businesses Act of 2022 (H.R. 3807), which the House passed Thursday, that would provide new relief particularly for restaurants, along with certain other small businesses.

 “Since early 2020 our restaurants have had strong headwinds to overcome,” Congresswoman Amata said. “First, tourism and travelers came to a sudden stop two years ago, and now they are impacted by inflation, fuel costs, and other obstacles.”

The legislation, which still requires Senate action, would provide $42 billion in additional restaurant relief, and includes $13 billion for other hard-hit industries. This new small business pandemic relief is led by Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-OR) and Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA).

Specifically, the bill replenishes a program of the Small Business Administration (SBA) known as the Restaurant Revitalization Fund (RRF), which provides grants directly to restaurants struggling with pandemic-caused cost increases and losses of customers. Under funding from prior legislation, this program successfully assisted over 100,000 restaurants nationwide, however, another 90,000 restaurants throughout the country have closed permanently since the pandemic started, and the industry has been reduced by about one million jobs.

The RRF was created by Congress in COVID response legislation, with funds added in the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, and made available at the time through a Small Business Administration (SBA) portal while those funds lasted.

Once the bill becomes law and the SBA program is funded again for new grants, restaurants and similar food providers would qualify to apply. Notably, these will include any style or type of restaurant that provides food, such as a food stand, food truck, caterer, bar, tavern, pub, bakery, or brewery. Note that the SBA Portal is not yet able to take new applications, but that information will be announced promptly once RRF grants are available again.