Washington, D.C. — Congresswoman Uifa’atali Amata is welcoming Friday’s Senate passage of the government funding bill that was passed by the House on Tuesday last week. This legislation funds the government through the end of the fiscal year, September 30, 2025, avoiding a shutdown.

The Full-Year Continuing Appropriations and Extensions Act, 2025, H.R. 1968, will be sent to President Trump to sign into law, keeping current discretionary spending levels for the next six months, which completes the fiscal year.

“I’m pleased to see a shutdown avoided,” said Congresswoman Amata. “Federal funding is important to American Samoa, and this action ensures there is no gap in funding and provides certainty. Medicaid support and military pay are two factors that are very important to our people. This year’s historic pay raise for our enlisted Service Members is now appropriated by the Congress for these months.”

This bill appropriates the largest pay increase for junior enlisted Service Members in 40 years, which the Congress had already authorized in the most recent National Defense Authorization Act. It also provides a $500 million boost to WIC, which is federal support through the USDA for Women, Infants and Children. In another key addition, the bill increases funding for air traffic control safety efforts. It boosts Veterans health care by $6 billion to prevent a shortfall, adds $330 million to fund pay raises for wildland firefighters, and bolsters HUD funding by $4.5 billion for low-income families’ assistance. It further boosts Defense funding and invests in shipbuilding, and upholds Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and other critical services.

The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) analysis is that the bill provides $1.6 trillion of total base discretionary spending for the remaining part-year time frame, with $893 billion for defense and $708 billion for nondefense programs, which is above FY 2024 spending for the full year.

HONORING LIFE OF CONGRESSMAN GRIJALVA

 Congresswoman Uifa’atali Amata is honoring the life of Congressman Raúl Grijalva of Arizona upon news of his passing.

“Congressman Raúl Grijalva [Arizona] was an influential Member of Congress with the seniority that comes with serving for over 22 years. In fact, for much of my time in Congress, he served as Chairman or Ranking Member of the Natural Resources Committee. As such, he had a great deal of influence regarding the territories, as the DOI and all U.S. policy regarding the territories are in the jurisdiction of this committee. He was friendly and attentive on those occasions when I requested his bipartisan support, and I know I cosponsored quite a few of his bills over the years. He was a strong leader and a real advocate for positions he believed in. He seemed laidback in manner but was tenacious in his approach to legislation. I am saddened by his passing. May God bless his loved ones.”