[Senate Hearing 116-374]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
S. Hrg. 116-374
THE IMPACTS OF THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC IN
THE TERRITORIES
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HEARING
BEFORE THE
COMMITTEE ON
ENERGY AND NATURAL RESOURCES
UNITED STATES SENATE
ONE HUNDRED SIXTEENTH CONGRESS
SECOND SESSION
__________
JUNE 30, 2020
__________
[GRAPHIC NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Printed for the use of the
Committee on Energy and Natural Resources
Available via the World Wide Web: http://www.govinfo.gov
__________
U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE
40-920 WASHINGTON : 2021
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COMMITTEE ON ENERGY AND NATURAL RESOURCES
LISA MURKOWSKI, Alaska, Chairman
JOHN BARRASSO, Wyoming JOE MANCHIN III, West Virginia
JAMES E. RISCH, Idaho RON WYDEN, Oregon
MIKE LEE, Utah MARIA CANTWELL, Washington
STEVE DAINES, Montana BERNARD SANDERS, Vermont
BILL CASSIDY, Louisiana DEBBIE STABENOW, Michigan
CORY GARDNER, Colorado MARTIN HEINRICH, New Mexico
CINDY HYDE-SMITH, Mississippi MAZIE K. HIRONO, Hawaii
MARTHA McSALLY, Arizona ANGUS S. KING, JR., Maine
LAMAR ALEXANDER, Tennessee CATHERINE CORTEZ MASTO, Nevada
JOHN HOEVEN, North Dakota
Brian Hughes, Staff Director
Lucy Murfitt, Chief Counsel
Isaac Edwards, Deputy Chief Counsel
Renae Black, Democratic Staff Director
Sam E. Fowler, Democratic Chief Counsel
Melanie Thornton, Democratic Professional Staff Member
Darla Ripchensky, Chief Clerk
C O N T E N T S
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OPENING STATEMENTS
Page
Murkowski, Hon. Lisa, Chairman and a U.S. Senator from Alaska.... 1
Manchin III, Hon. Joe, Ranking Member and a U.S. Senator from
West Virginia.................................................. 2
WITNESSES
Sablan, Hon. Gregorio Kilili Camacho, Congressman--Northern
Mariana Islands, U.S. House of Representatives................. 4
Radewagen, Hon. Aumua Amata, Congresswoman--American Samoa, U.S.
House of Representatives....................................... 10
Plaskett, Hon. Stacey, Congresswoman--U.S. Virgin Islands, U.S.
House of Representatives....................................... 18
Gonzalez-Colon, Hon. Jenniffer, Congresswoman--Puerto Rico, U.S.
House of Representatives....................................... 27
San Nicolas, Hon. Michael F.Q., Congressman--Guam, U.S. House of
Representatives................................................ 38
ALPHABETICAL LISTING AND APPENDIX MATERIAL SUBMITTED
Bryan, Jr., Hon. Albert:
Letter for the Record........................................ 137
Garced, Hon. Wanda Vazquez:
Letter for the Record........................................ 157
Gonzalez-Colon, Hon. Jenniffer:
Opening Statement............................................ 27
Chart entitled ``Impact of COVID-19 Nutrition Assistance
Program (NAP) in Puerto Rico''............................. 28
Chart entitled ``Pharmaceutical and Medical Device
Manufacturing in Puerto Rico''............................. 29
Written Testimony............................................ 32
Responses to Questions for the Record........................ 112
Guerrero, Hon. Lourdes A. Leon:
Letter for the Record........................................ 161
Manchin III, Hon. Joe:
Opening Statement............................................ 2
Murkowski, Hon. Lisa:
Opening Statement............................................ 1
Northern Marianas Business Alliance Corporation:
Letter for the Record........................................ 165
Plaskett, Hon. Stacey:
Opening Statement............................................ 18
Written Testimony............................................ 20
Responses to Questions for the Record........................ 103
Radewagen, Hon. Aumua Amata Coleman:
Opening Statement............................................ 10
Written Testimony............................................ 12
Responses to Questions for the Record........................ 98
Sablan, Hon. Gregorio Kilili Camacho:
Opening Statement............................................ 4
Written Testimony............................................ 7
Responses to Questions for the Record........................ 84
San Nicolas, Hon. Michael F.Q.:
Opening Statement............................................ 38
Written Testimony............................................ 40
Responses to Questions for the Record........................ 133
Torres, Hon. Ralph DLG.:
Statement for the Record..................................... 171
THE IMPACTS OF THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC IN THE TERRITORIES
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TUESDAY, JUNE 30, 2020
U.S. Senate,
Committee on Energy and Natural Resources,
Washington, DC.
The Committee met, pursuant to notice, at 2:42 p.m. in Room
SD-366, Dirksen Senate Office Building, Hon. Lisa Murkowski,
Chairman of the Committee, presiding.
OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. LISA MURKOWSKI,
U.S. SENATOR FROM ALASKA
The Chairman. Good afternoon, everyone. The Committee will
come to order. It is good to be able to welcome you all this
afternoon, although Congresswoman Radewagen, I think, it is
probably your good morning there, so we will just say good day
to everyone.
As folks may know, we have had a whole series of hearings
on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic over the past several
weeks. We have looked at the impact on the energy sector, on
our mineral supply chains, on wildfire preparedness, but today
we are going to take a closer look at the virus' impact on the
territories, at the implementation of existing law aimed at
mitigating and preventing its spread and potential legislation
that could benefit the territories in the future.
All of our states face challenges in fighting the spread
and the impact of COVID-19, but I think it is fair to say that
the territories face additional hurdles. You have limited
capacity to handle a health pandemic, to the economies with
fewer sources of revenue that are severely harmed by the
economic shutdown, particularly those that are dependent upon
tourism. And that is where I can certainly relate to USVI, to
Puerto Rico, Guam, American Samoa, CMNI. These are all areas
that see a flux of folks with tourism. Although the territories
have limited ports of entry for the virus to arrive at their
islands, the reality is that the virus spread well before
travel restrictions were in place and, of course, once it is on
an island it is difficult to contain. American Samoa is the
only jurisdiction to keep the virus from reaching their shores,
and while we certainly hope that remains the case, we don't
take anything for granted nowadays.
Congress has passed four funding bills to address the
COVID-19 outbreak and while I know these bills do not contain
everything that everyone wanted to have included, we did seek
to ensure that the measures work for the territories where
federal programs are not necessarily implemented in the same
manner as the states. The Families First Coronavirus Response
Act increased Medicaid funding for the territories and lowered
the territory's Medicaid match rate. It provided additional
SNAP funding and supplemental funding for those territories
that utilize block grant funding instead of traditional SNAP.
The CARES Act included language to allow all territories to
participate in the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance Program
regardless of whether they have unemployment insurance
programs. In addition to financial assistance for governments
through the Coronavirus Relief Fund, it included an additional
$55 million through DOI's Office of Insular Affairs for COVID-
19 needs.
I think we are probably going to hear this afternoon that
more is needed and know that we will be working on that as we
head into July and this next work period coming up. My hope is
that today's hearing will provide us with a better
understanding of what has worked so far, what needs to be
adjusted and what additional measures should be considered. I
am pleased that we have all five representatives of the
territories with us today to lead this discussion. Before I
introduce our witnesses, I will turn to Ranking Member Manchin
for his remarks and comments this morning.
Senator Manchin.
STATEMENT OF HON. JOE MANCHIN III,
U.S. SENATOR FROM WEST VIRGINIA
Senator Manchin. Thank you, Chair Murkowski, for holding
the hearing to discuss the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic in
the U.S. territories. I want to thank all of our honorable
guests for being here to help us through this so we can help
you. To date, the Coronavirus pandemic has taken the lives of
over 125,000 of our fellow Americans, including 166 individuals
from the territories, and our heart goes out to the grieving
families across the country and around the world. The scope of
the Committee's jurisdiction includes the five territories of
Puerto Rico, U.S. Virgin Islands, American Samoa, Guam and the
Northern Mariana Islands. I welcome our panel of witnesses that
represent these five territories in the United States House of
Representatives and appreciate all of you joining us to share
how the pandemic has impacted your island communities.
Each of these governments face unique challenges based on
their geographic location. Import reliance, limited financial
resources and different treatment under federal programs, these
circumstances create both unique problems and risk of continued
challenges throughout the pandemic. The island economies are
taking a hard hit as a result of the pandemic, and I sure don't
need to tell any of you that. The territories were quick to
react to the spread of COVID-19 and by mid-March had instituted
stay-at-home orders, travel restrictions and enhanced screening
in an effort to keep the virus under control. In fact, American
Samoa is the only place in the United States that has had no
confirmed cases of COVID-19. And in 1918 they were able to
avoid the Spanish Flu pandemic in large part due to swift
action on travel restrictions and quarantine.
It should come as no surprise that the beautiful
territories are heavily dependent on tourism, but tourism has
come to a halt as we attempt to flatten the curve.
Unfortunately, this will not change anytime soon as we continue
to urge social distancing and discourage travel during the
ongoing global pandemic. This year, adding insult to injury,
the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration is
predicting a busy hurricane season in the Atlantic in the midst
of the pandemic. The territories have been hit by severe
natural disasters including hurricanes, typhoons and
earthquakes in recent years. Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin
Islands are still recovering from the 2017 hurricanes that
wreaked havoc in the islands and caused over $140 billion in
damages.
Hurricane and disaster preparation are crucial during this
time of year and especially this year given we have a global
pandemic on our hands too. This will require an entirely
different approach from both emergency managers and the public.
Although the local and Federal Government have been working
hard to recover and rebuild, more needs to be done to prepare
for natural disasters amid COVID-19. Over the past few months,
Congress has passed four pieces of legislation providing
authority and funding necessary for COVID-19 relief and
recovery efforts. This is a result of over $2 trillion in new
direct spending for the U.S. Department of Treasury, the Small
Business Administration, the Department of Health and Human
Services and many other federal agencies and entities. We
worked hard to ensure the territories were included and
eligible for the funding and the various federal programs
engaged in the response to the pandemic. For example, the
territories received $2.5 billion in the Coronavirus Relief
Fund, $2.2 billion in the Paycheck Protection Program, $35.5
million in the Provider Relief Fund, $55 million in the Office
of Insular Affairs' Technical Assistance Program, direct
payments to individuals and families and additional funding
from other federal agencies and entities engaged in the
pandemic response.
While there have been some economic relief success stories,
I know our work is far from over and I know you know it too as
we continue to hear from our families, small business owners,
non-profits, the local governments, health care providers and
frontline workers across the country who are not getting the
help that they desperately need now. I look forward to learning
more from our witnesses about the impacts our island
communities are facing in the unpredictable global pandemic. I
am hopeful that we can work together to create and respond to
the challenges facing the territories and find commonsense,
bipartisan solutions that lay the foundation for a strong,
sustainable economic growth for many years to come.
Thank you, Madam Chairman, and I look forward to hearing
from our witnesses.
The Chairman. Thank you, Senator.
It is, indeed, a pleasure to be able to welcome you to the
Committee, back to the Committee for several of you. Those of
you who have walked the long distance from the House of
Representatives, we appreciate that. We also recognize that we
have the ability now to not only have you live and in person,
but we can also do things virtually. So to have members that
are either in their office in Washington, DC, or in their home
offices in their districts in a territory like American Samoa,
we are pleased to be able to accommodate via this venue. I am
pleased to be able to, again, welcome you all and look forward
to how you can educate us on the issues that have so directly
impacted your constituents.
We will begin this afternoon, just going off of the order
on the witness list. Congressman Gregorio Kilili Camacho
Sablan, who is the Congressman from the Northern Mariana
Islands, will begin our testimony. He will be followed by
Congresswoman Amata Coleman Radewagen and, as I mentioned, the
Congresswoman is in American Samoa this morning. We have here
in the Committee room, Congresswoman Stacey Plaskett with the
U.S. Virgin Islands. We welcome you back to the Committee,
thank you. Congresswoman Jenniffer Gonzalez-Colon from Puerto
Rico, we are pleased that you are back before the Committee
again. And Congressman Michael San Nicolas from Guam, we
appreciate that you, as well, have joined us this afternoon.
I am going to ask everyone to try to limit your comments to
about five minutes. You are from the House side, so you are
used to doing things in one minute, so we are giving you five
times the talking time. We will then have an opportunity for
questions, not only from those of us here, but those members
that are also online. Your full statements will be included as
part of the record. So let us first begin with Congressman
Sablan. If you can give us the perspective from the Northern
Mariana Islands, and welcome to you.
STATEMENT OF HON. GREGORIO KILILI CAMACHO SABLAN, CONGRESSMAN--
NORTHERN MARIANA ISLANDS, U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Mr. Sablan. Well, thank you very much, Madam Chair, thanks
to you and Ranking Member Manchin and the members of the
Committee for taking the initiative to hold today's hearing.
Moreover, thank you for the 12 years of attention and support
you have all given to the Northern Mariana Islands. Thanks as
well to your constituents and all the American people for the
extraordinary generosity to the people of the Northern Mariana
Islands, especially in this time of unprecedented crisis.
This hearing is about how Congress responds to the
pandemic, but even before Congress' response could reach them,
the people I represent and Marianas government officials had to
take action. They did what was needed to be safe, and they
succeeded.
We had two deaths initially, 30 cases total, but have now
gone for 22 days with no new cases. So far we are keeping COVID
at bay. The Marianas have a unique advantage in a pandemic; we
can seal ourselves off from the rest of the world. As a matter
of fact, all cases are reported on Saipan. There have been no
reported cases of infection on Tinian and Rota or from the
three partially inhabited islands of Pagan, Agrihan and
Alamagan.
The flipside, however, is the disadvantage we face in
reviving an economy that depends, as you said, almost entirely
on high volume tourism. How can we welcome back visitors to the
islands while ensuring those visitors are not bringing disease?
Eventually, if there's a vaccine, we could return to some
semblance of the old normal, as long as visitors could reliably
certify they were vaccinated. But that is a big ``if.'' I think
we must face the reality that we may never again exclusively
base our economy on short-term, mass tourism and find
alternatives. For instance:
--Our robust cable connections and the competitive
advantage of our time zone, just this month the
Colorado-based InteliSecure, Inc. began hiring for
a cybersecurity operation in the Northern Marianas.
--We could grow our existing educational facilities which
already attract long-term-stay students from Korea
and other Asian locations.
--We could obtain new classes of visas that would permit
longer-term, second homeowners in the Marianas.
Above all, and I always say this because we have no
extractable resources--no oil or gold as in, say, Alaska, Madam
Chair--we must relentlessly invest in our human resources,
because with the better-trained and more educated population,
the more likely that entrepreneurial ideas will emerge that
will grow wealth and well-being.
And at the same time we nurture new sources of income, we
can also reduce our expenses. We can become even more energy
independent and more self-sustaining when it comes to food.
Governor Torres has recently taken the initiative. He
brought the Marianas government and community leaders together
in April to begin to search for the answer to questions of
where we go from here and what steps we need to take. The two
action items the Governor initially identified for Congress, we
are already addressing: direct aid to the Commonwealth
government (the CARES Act provided $36 million to cover
unbudgeted pandemic costs, for example) and a waiver of local
match for FEMA grants. But there will be more for Congress to
do. For the long-term, to facilitate economic changes the
Marianas decides on, whether that means new classes of visas,
support for energy independence or modernizing infrastructure.
In the near-term, to prop up individuals, small business and
the local government, all of which had incomes shredded by the
pandemic, and always, Congress must direct resources to health
care, to local providers and to researchers in national labs so
that this disease does not overwhelm us.
Congress has already taken extraordinary action in response
to the Coronavirus crisis and the territories have not been
left behind: 414 businesses in the Marianas are receiving $37
million through the Paycheck Protection Program, $70 million
has been initially set up for the Pandemic Unemployment
Assistance, $49 million has been credited to Marianas'
taxpayers in Economic Impact Payments, and our schools are
receiving in excess of $30 million. We are eligible for the
range of grants provided by the Families First and CARES Acts
for health care, child care and food aid. And, as mentioned,
the Commonwealth government received $36 million to cover
unbudgeted costs.
But we cannot be lulled into believing the worst is over.
In World War II, America did not declare victory after the
Battle of Midway. There were years, still long years of
struggle ahead. There could well be years of struggle before us
now to ward off the Coronavirus and rebuild economically, but
if there is one legislation that could unleash the help we need
to get us through this crisis, that is the HEROES Act that the
House wrote and passed. The bill builds on policies Congress
previously enacted in the Families First and CARES Acts to help
American families, businesses and state and local governments
through this crisis. My fellow Delegates and I were listened to
when the HEROES Act was drafted and passed in the House. We
made sure our areas are provided for in measure equal to the
needs we face.
So I close by respectfully urging the Senate to take up the
HEROES Act immediately, because this struggle is just starting
and is far from over.
Thank you for holding today's hearing and for the
opportunity to testify. Thank you always for the care and
attention you all have given to the American citizens residing
in the territories. I look forward to working with you to
ensure the territories and all of America find our way through
this pandemic. Thank you. I went over my time.
[The prepared statement of Mr. Sablan follows:]
[GRAPHICS NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
The Chairman. Congressman, thank you. I appreciate your
comments this afternoon.
Let us now proceed to Congresswoman Radewagen.
STATEMENT OF HON. AUMUA AMATA RADEWAGEN, CONGRESSWOMAN--
AMERICAN SAMOA, U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Mrs. Radewagen. Thank you, Madam Chairwoman and Ranking
Member Manchin for holding this hearing today. I appreciate the
work the ENR Committee does on behalf of American Samoa and all
the territories, and I'm thankful for the opportunity to
testify here today.
Let me begin by saying that the initial response to the
COVID-19 pandemic, at least in American Samoa, has been very
positive. Both Congress and the Trump Administration have made
great efforts to include the territories in these massive
response efforts the past few months. I've included the full
funding highlights along with my written testimony and to
suffice it to say, American Samoa has received well over $100
million in much needed relief funding and grants through direct
aid to our local ASG operations, stimulus checks, PPP and EIDL
loans and forthcoming PUA and unemployment assistance payments,
all for which we are extremely grateful.
With swift bipartisan Congressional funding and rapid
implementation by President Trump's Administration, American
Samoa and the country have avoided a much worse fate in this
two-sided COVID war on both the health and economic fronts. We
thank God everyday American Samoa has remained virus-free, but
we're hardly immune to the economic fallout. We're in the same
boat as the rest of the country with disruption to our
churches, schools, small businesses and local government
revenues as a result. We've had no commercial air travel to and
from the islands since March. So due to these logistical
problems, distribution of aid has had its challenges. I'm
deeply thankful to Treasury, DOI, SBA, HHS, FEMA and the other
agencies for working to overcome these long-distance challenges
since we're more than 7,000 miles away. So please keep us in
mind as Congress considers additional measures in response to
the ongoing pandemic and to promote economic recovery.
There are several points I want to highlight, and my
written testimony provides further details on these priority
health and economic needs. More COVID testing and tracing
support is needed. Continued healthcare resiliency and capacity
support in the areas of testing and tracing will be needed for
American Samoa to reopen safely and prepare for future crisis.
Support for CDC initiatives are vital as well. We welcomed
Congress granting us the full Medicaid funding formula and ask
that the cap be lifted as well to attract more services and
physicians. LBJ Hospital improvements are needed as the Army
Corps report to Congress pointed out.
We're grateful to this Committee's directing DOI to study
the cost of repairing and replacing our only hospital, LBJ
Tropical Medical Center. The Army Corps report outlines
millions are needed for LBJ's modernization. Long-term funding
mechanisms need to be looked at by this Committee as Congress
looks at providing essential and emergency healthcare
capabilities and funding for the future. An increase to the
annual ASG operations at DOI OIA is needed to help us further
plan and design an effective modernization in accord with the
Army Corps findings.
More unemployment assistance is needed. Pandemic
Unemployment Assistance (PUA) payments of $600 expire July 31,
but applications locally are just now being processed since we
have no local unemployment program. So I thank Secretary Scalia
and the U.S. DOL team for their implementation efforts to date.
Please include American Samoa in any modification that extends
and expands the PUA payments to all our valid workers under
local law.
30A extension is needed. I encourage you to support
multiyear continuation of the 30A American Samoa Economic
Development Credit. Our sole remaining tuna cannery, two others
have left for cheap foreign labor, it's nearly 20 percent of
the workforce at 3,000+ jobs, and it relies heavily on the 30A
tax credit. We cannot diversify our local economy without a
five-year minimum extension. No business will invest in the
developing territory when a job creation credit expires every
year and is always uncertain of being renewed. We also need 30A
to be included in any stimulus tax credit provision or
qualifying list under IRS Section 38 or otherwise as well.
Finally, increasing the highway funding formula for the
territories and providing additional grant opportunities for
seawall construction and safer ports should be a part of any
broad infrastructure stimulus.
In closing, I want to thank our Governor and our healthcare
workers and first responders during this crisis and thank our
military and note that American Samoa has one of the highest
rates of service in the Army per capita and the highest rate of
service per capita in NFL linemen and proudly play in college
at West Virginia and all over. It takes a real tough Samoan to
be a mountaineer in a lavalava.
Thank you, Chairman Murkowski, Ranking Member Manchin and
Committee members for your time today. God bless.
[The prepared statement of Mrs. Radewagen follows:]
[GRAPHICS NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
The Chairman. Thank you, Congresswoman. I was wondering
where you were taking that picture with the NFL lineman.
Let us now turn to Congresswoman Plaskett. Thank you for
joining us this afternoon. Give us the view from U.S. Virgin
Islands, please.
STATEMENT OF HON. STACEY PLASKETT, CONGRESSWOMAN--U.S. VIRGIN
ISLANDS, U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Ms. Plaskett. Thank you so much, Chairwoman Murkowski and
Ranking Member Manchin. You also have testimony submitted by
Governor Albert Bryan of the U.S. Virgin Islands, and I think
that will, as well, be informative along with my testimony.
The impact of the COVID virus in the territories has been
tremendous. In the Virgin Islands, like other territories, the
impact of disaster economic recessions, always much more
negative in the territories than it is on the mainland. The
first COVID case in the Virgin Islands was confirmed on March
13th. On that day, Governor Albert Bryan declared a local state
of emergency. And on April 2nd, President Trump approved
Governor Bryan's request for major disaster declaration. We are
presently in the ``open door'' phase of the Virgin Islands and,
as of Monday, June 29th, the Virgin Islands Department of
Health has identified 84 positive cases with five remaining
active cases, 73 recovered cases and 6 deaths. With the
assistance of our federal partners, we're better supplied now
than at the beginning; however, we remain concerned about the
full and timely replacement of personal protective equipment,
swabbing and testing. We received $3.5 million federal support
from the Provider Relief Fund but as airlines and visitors
return to the territory, we are concerned about that.
As you know, the Virgin Islands is uniquely dependent on
tourism. It generates 30 percent of the territory's gross
domestic product and employs 25 percent of our civilian labor
force. Because the COVID-19 impact reduced tourism revenues
essentially to zero, the territory is suffering devastating
economic losses. As I will discuss, the most support needed for
the Virgin Islands' recovery from COVID is economic. The scale
of the economic calamity is such that even sweeping relief
provided by the CARES Act, while very much appreciated, is
inadequate to prevent the territory from falling off our
economic cliff. Economic models have projected a revenue
shortfall of $250 million in 2020, that's 25 percent of our
annual budget, and another $250 million in 2021, another 25
percent of our annual budget.
The sudden and dramatic drop in government revenues has
reduced the territory's cash on hand to dangerously low levels,
days of cash on hand, jeopardizing our ability to make payroll
and perform basic public services. Unemployment claims jumped
100 percent between March and April, from 4.2 percent
unemployment to 8.4, while government revenue drops have been
to unprecedented lows. Tourist expenditures average $1.2
billion a year as the territory brings in hundreds of thousands
of air arrival and cruise visitors. Typically there's an
average of 178,644 cruise ship visitors in March, based on data
from 2013 to 2019. However, in March 2020, there were only
78,000, or 43 percent, of a typical monthly average due to the
global suspension of cruise ship activities that started on
March 14th. It is unclear when we will receive even close to
that monthly average again.
The CARES Act has ameliorated some of the harm and we
appreciate that, but it will not prevent serious and lasting
damages to the Virgin Islands' economy. Let's think about it.
We received $75 million. While the Virgin Islands' population
is approximately one-fifth the size of the smallest state,
under the CARES Act we received one-seventeenth the minimum
funding of a smallest state. This is inequitable. The pandemic
doesn't distinguish between an individual or a virus in the
territories or the United States and help available to American
citizens threatened should not be either. As a result, the
Virgin Islands will need a significant infusion of operating
funding for Fiscal Years 2020 and 2021, covering both the
outlays for Coronavirus expenses and the loss of revenues.
Otherwise, it will fall far short of the revenue lost because
of the pandemic.
I have pages more to discuss, but I really just want to
impress on you all the impact financially to the territories
because of the pandemic. We have already faced significant
losses and concern over the hurricanes, as you discussed,
recovering from two Category 5 hurricanes, community disaster
loan debt payments, FEMA local cost share for recovery funding.
That has already crippled our economy. But now, to have to deal
with this pandemic where 25 percent of our revenues of loss,
inequitable treatment in how we are going to be receiving
funds. Congress has got to do better. It is Congress'
responsibility to take care of the territories. That, along
with tax implications of the tax bill from this last tax bill
and the 2004 one, which drove out economic diversification of
our economy, we have got to make some changes that deal not
just with the disaster right now but the underlying
fundamental, economic disparities that are in the territories
which keep us from being able to keep up.
So I've gone over my time. I will submit and answer any
questions that you all have. Thank you so much.
[The prepared statement of Ms. Plaskett follows:]
[GRAPHICS NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
The Chairman. Thank you, Congresswoman.
Let's next go to Congresswoman Gonzalez-Colon from Puerto
Rico.
STATEMENT OF HON. JENNIFFER GONZALEZ-COLON, CONGRESSWOMAN--
PUERTO RICO, U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Miss Gonzalez-Colon. Thank you, Chairman Murkowski and
Ranking Member Manchin, as Puerto Rico's sole representative in
Congress, for this invitation today in this hearing. I have
submitted a more detailed version of my testimony to the
Committee, so I will go over some immediate priorities during
this time and knowing as well that the Governor of Puerto Rico
submitted for the record her position.
[Charts displayed during Oral Statement follow:]
[GRAPHICS NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Miss Gonzalez-Colon. On March 15th, Puerto Rico became the
first U.S. jurisdiction to implement the strictest lockdown
with a mandatory curfew and a shutdown of all non-essential
businesses. COVID-19 coupled with the 2017 hurricanes and this
year's earthquakes have created major unexpected challenges for
a territory that, because of its colonial and political status
and the inability to fully participate in our nation's
democracy, has always considerably lagged the states
economically. One way to facilitate our recovery will be to
include in any future emergency relief package, language
similar to the ones that I have looked up from the bicameral
Congressional Task Force--H.R. 302, the Child Tax Credit; H.R.
754, the Earned Income Tax Credit--that will provide equal
treatment under both of these programs and an immediate impact
on low income families in Puerto Rico which has a poverty level
of 43.1, the highest in the nation.
Congress should--Puerto Rico's NAP to SNAP. Under the
Family First and the CARES Act, we received $297 million in
supplemental funding for a capped blockgrant which is funded at
$1.96 billion and serve over 1.3 million beneficiaries on the
island with benefits close to 50 percent less than SNAP which
is in the states and we don't have the disaster portion of the
SNAP program. However, this will not be enough to cover the
actual demand. Congress should increase our capped grant by 30
percent to $2.5 billion and provide an additional $1.27 billion
for NAP just to cover the current ongoing health emergency
because we are going through the regular numbers in August.
Also Puerto Rico was not included in the pandemic EBT program
which provides nutritional benefit to students in light of
school closures which started in mid-March and are still closed
to this day. We have 218,000 students enrolled in child
nutrition programs. Having access to the pandemic EBT will help
counter food insecurity and hunger in those kids.
The Family First allowed testing for the uninsured, FMAP
with 100 percent FMAP, even though the ongoing medical--
Medicaid funding cap for the territories was raised for 3.5
percent in this year and 3.0 percent for the next year, but
expenses for the uninsured remain 100 percent FMAP. That means
that together with the testing and the treatment for Medicaid
beneficiaries that will result in additional spending costing
Puerto Rico to use up its capped Medicaid funding more quickly.
Congress should exempt the coverage of the uninsured for the
Medicaid cap or, what I prefer, eliminate the cap which is not
in place in the states.
In Puerto Rico the best majority of Medicare beneficiaries
receive their care through the local Medicare advantage
organizations which accounted for nearly 50 percent of all
healthcare expenses on the island. Congress should also provide
emergency funding to providers of Medicare advantage so its
funding can prevent hospitals from firing essential personnel
during the emergency. Providers in Puerto Rico, so far, receive
the lowest amount per capita of distribution of $23 compared to
the national per capita of $174. Also, the providers in Puerto
Rico are receiving $930 compared to the national medium of
$9,700. That's a reason that won't be taken into account. This
pandemic also demonstrated firsthand the risk posed by our
country's heavy reliance on foreign manufacturing of medical
supplies.
We need to increase domestic production of medical goods.
That's why we introduced H.R. 6443, which is a bipartisan bill
that would establish federal tax incentives for current and
repatriated manufacturing operations in distressed zones in
areas of the whole nation that are extremely high poverty and
prevalent unemployment across the nation. This bill will also
incentivize research, development and manufacturing of
population health works that because of their low cost and
especially prone of offshoring. Puerto Rico can play a leading
role in our efforts to bring back that manufacturing to the
U.S. Twelve of the top 20 pharmaceutical and biotechnology
companies in the world have manufacturing operations in Puerto
Rico. We also manufacture half of the 2018 world's top ten most
sold drugs. Puerto Rico is also home to medical devices
manufacturing sites producing surgical and medical instruments
like Medtronic and Abbott. Puerto Rico has a long history of
pharmaceutical manufacturing and accounts with a highly skilled
workforce. The island's university system has also invested in
the highly skilled workforce by turning out a steady stream of
new talent, highly sought by the likes of NASA. This bill will
have a unique opportunity to bring jobs back to the United
States and spur the economy of distressed zones, areas, like
Puerto Rico.
I look forward for answering any questions you may have and
provide additional details and in the line of tourism, just
with the COVID-19, we got 128 calls with Cruise Ship Council,
53 of them were upwards, 75 of them were transit. That means
that more than 350,000 passengers less through the last year.
We, and again, the cruises industry, major cruise line has
extended their sailing suspension to September so that means
that it will be 183 cancels. So with that, my time is over.
Thank you.
[The prepared statement of Miss Gonzalez-Colon follows:]
[GRAPHICS NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
The Chairman. Thank you, Congresswoman. We appreciate that.
And finally, we will hear from the Congressman from Guam,
the Honorable Michael San Nicolas.
STATEMENT OF HON. MICHAEL F.Q. SAN NICOLAS, CONGRESSMAN--GUAM,
U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Mr. San Nicolas. Good afternoon and Hafa Adai, Chairwoman
Murkowski, Ranking Member Manchin and members of the Committee.
I want to thank you for your leadership and advocacy in our
combined efforts to provide equitable access of federal
resources to the people of Guam and our U.S. territories in
this global fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.
In accessing our COVID-19 circumstances and evaluating what
further action must be taken federally in order to fully meet
the needs of our territories, we can find one very specific
parallel to the pandemic itself, preexisting conditions
exacerbate risk factors. For Guam, in particular, the
preexisting conditions of unfunded earned income tax credit
(EITC) mandates, the lack of supplemental security income
applicability and the underfunded costs of the migratory
impacts and the Compacts of Free Association left us vulnerable
and stall our efforts to recover.
From inception, the EITC costs for Guam have ballooned to
roughly 30 percent of total income tax refund liabilities on
Guam. The very nature of the EITC is that it is intended to pay
a qualified recipient an amount in excess of their total banked
income tax withholdings in order to incentivize work. While the
EITC is a broad federal program is sustainable with the U.S.
Treasury able to fund those costs using various deficit
spending tools, applying them to Guam and leaving Guam to fund
them is wholly unsustainable because a territory does not have
similar access to such tools. As a result of this preexisting
condition, Guam's capacity to meet COVID-19 threats was greatly
diminished with less facility readiness and nurse recruitment
and retention already inadequate to meet Guam's needs. The
Congress must see to it that the Federal Government absorbs the
cost of EITC by permanently funding it on a reimbursement basis
in the territories. Additional thought should be put into a
federal reserve facility to capitalize EITC costs to
territories and direct payments from the Treasury to the Fed at
the close of the Fiscal Year to reconcile it.
When the pandemic struck and our tourism-based economy
contracted, we have seen many families go from making ends meet
to not being able to provide. We must recognize that
preexisting challenges facing our at-risk community and how
their situations went from bleak to destitute as a result of
the pandemic. At its core, supplemental security income, SSI,
is intended to serve as a lifeline for those who qualify,
particularly the aged and the disabled, who otherwise would
have little means to provide for their basic needs. The lack of
SSI on Guam means that thousands of children and families go
without what otherwise would be a staple of American decency
throughout this country.
Prior to the pandemic this at-risk group was cared for by
aging parents and gracious family members, many of whom worked
multiple jobs to supplement the cost of living and care for
their loved ones. This preexisting condition already strained
households and the economic savaging of the pandemic has caused
people to not only lose their jobs but lose the ability to care
for the disabled loved ones who would be supported by SSI had
they not been statutorily excluded. The Congress must end the
discriminatory exclusion of territories from SSI. Recent
Federal Court rulings are already indicating that such an
outcome is forthcoming. It would be both pragmatic and
magnanimous for the Congress to fully extend SSI to the
territories, particularly during these COVID-19 times, so the
people most in need, even before the pandemic, are finally made
whole during the pandemic.
As the renegotiations for the Compacts of Free Association
(COFA) Implementation Agreements begin in earnest, we must be
mindful of how the preexisting condition of these agreements
have created critical health, education and public safety
vulnerabilities in the territory of Guam. To avail of the
freedom to migrate, COFA citizens must either be doing so for
education, health care or employment. The costs associated with
hosting COFA migrants under either of these three prerequisites
have vastly exceeded current funding levels. In 2019 the rate
of federally-funded compact impact per COFA migrant was $892
which is far short of the cost to educate at over $9,000, the
cost for government health care at almost $3,000 and the cost
of EITC should they be working and receiving that benefit at
$2,800 on a per citizen basis on Guam. These shortfalls create
real systemic imbalances and right preexisting conditions for
COVID-19 to go untested, untreated or undiagnosed as COFA
migrants aren't eligible for Medicaid coverage and the cash
shortfall underfunded migratory costs overburden the systems of
care.
The Congress must strive to provide as much balance as
possible to the costs associated of hosting COFA migrants, as
failure to do so comes at a cost to health, education and
public safety institutions provided by host communities. The
Congress must also extend the applicability of Medicaid to COFA
migrants as a commonsense component of the authorized migratory
purpose of seeking healthcare and further consider extending
Medicaid directly into COFA states as a means to ameliorate
healthcare migration at the source. Addressing these
preexisting conditions will certainly improve the outcome of
all COVID-19 relief provided and permanently strengthen the
Guam community to better withstand any future threats. While
they represent longstanding issues within the territory of
Guam, these pandemic circumstances have revealed the structural
weaknesses caused by their systemic corrosion. To ensure our
COVID-19 relief efforts are fully effective and to ensure that
Guam and our territories are properly situated for any future
risks, we must address the EITC, SSI and COFA inequities now,
not later.
Thank you, Chairwoman Murkowski and Ranking Member Manchin
and members of the Committee, for the opportunity to testify
before you today. I stand ready to answer any questions you may
have.
[The prepared statement of Mr. San Nicolas follows:]
[GRAPHICS NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
The Chairman. Thank you so very much, and we appreciate the
testimony of each of you here today.
I am going to start off. There has been a great deal of
focus, as there necessarily should be, on the economic impact
due to COVID-19, but I am going to start my questions off with
regard to healthcare capacity. As I look through the numbers
out there, all of the island territories are very similar to
Alaska in that you have either a mandatory 14-day quarantine or
require some level of testing as we do in Alaska. The question
to you is that I understood that in the early days of the COVID
testing the results were either flown to Hawaii for testing or
to Atlanta for results which, of course, just adds to the days
and sometimes weeks to get a turnaround. Has that been
resolved? Do you have the ability to get test results on island
at this point in time in all five that are represented today?
Puerto Rico says yes. Guam, yes. USVI?
How about out in CNMI and American Samoa?
Mr. Sablan. Yes.
Mrs. Radewagen. Yes.
The Chairman. Okay, okay.
I think it was you, Congresswoman Plaskett, that mentioned
that there was a worry or a concern about replacement PPE. Are
there any other medical equipment shortages, PPE, that you all
are currently worried about that FEMA is not being responsive,
that HHS is not being responsive, that you have not addressed
here today that any one of you would wish to share with us? I
will start with our two individuals that are online, either
Congresswoman Radewagen or Congressman Sablan?
Mr. Sablan. Thank you, Madam Chair. Yeah, in the beginning,
when I wasn't, I'm not sure if it was at the direction of FEMA
or if it was locally, but the Commonwealth government purchased
testing agents, reagents, and test swabs from a company from
South Korea and the swabs were not approved, CDC approved, FDA
approved. Subsequent to that, I asked Dr. Fauci if he could
help get FDA to approve it and eventually they're now approved
but there was recently also a raid by the FBI on the company,
both on Guam and on Saipan; it's the same company that sold us
those unauthorized swabs and reagents.
The Chairman. Okay.
Mr. Sablan. Thank you.
The Chairman. Anything else, Congresswoman or any of the
panelists here?
Ms. Plaskett. I just wanted to add that yes, we have the
supplies that we need and FEMA is very responsive, because
they're on the ground already in the Virgin Islands and Puerto
Rico related to our other disaster. We also have capacity
issues just based on our hospitals not having the facilities in
the manner that they're supposed to be. On the island of St.
Croix, we are just this past couple of weeks, put up the
temporary facility before the rebuild of our hospital from the
2017. So having the beds necessary if there's a surge has been
a problem that we are dealing with and because the territories,
the smaller territories, also are still being reimbursed based
on TEFRA rather than on another reimbursable. There's a
question of whether or not we're going to be able to get the
add-on payments that are needed if those patients are Medicaid
or Medicare.
The Chairman. So, it is, and I was out there on St. Croix
and saw the devastation to that hospital, incredible to see
what you had experienced and then to recognize just how long it
was going to be until you actually had another facility.
Ms. Plaskett. Right.
The Chairman. I know that Congresswoman Radewagen, you also
mentioned American Samoa's LBJ Hospital. I have not seen that
one myself, but it kind of speaks to the capacity issues that
you face when, you know, fortunately for American Samoa, you do
not have any cases. You want to keep it that way, but your
capacity is limited, at least in a couple of these areas
because you have had a disaster visit you before and we have
not been able to get on top of that to this point in time.
Ms. Plaskett. And while FEMA and the Army Corps are very
good about identifying other locations and putting up the beds
and the capacity that's needed, the cost of that, the share
that we have to pay for each one of those beds is really
exorbitant.
The Chairman. Congresswoman.
Miss Gonzalez-Colon. One of the issues that is related to
that hospital capacity is actually that hospitals in Puerto
Rico use 50 percent for Medicaid Advantage. So although Family
First and CARES had included money for Medicaid, many of those
hospitals are firing personnel, essential personnel, because
they are not having any activity or payments or advancement by
the Medicare Advantage Program and that's not only in Puerto
Rico, that's happening in Florida, Oregon and many other
states. But in our case, that represent more than 50 percent.
So even when we do have 3,800 beds in use, of them just 102
from COVID and more than 2,400 available, that doesn't mean
that the hospitals are going to continue to maintain their
operations because they are not receiving the Medicaid
Advantage funds. So that is a critical issue and we saw a lot
of layoff from hospitals and nurses during this emergency time,
at least on the island.
The Chairman. I appreciate that.
Mrs. Radewagen. Chairman Murkowski?
The Chairman. Go ahead, you can finish up.
Mrs. Radewagen. The funds from the CARES Act are being used
at LBJ for the virus-related expenditures which total more than
$3.6 million and includes over $1.3 million in medical
equipment, nearly $2 million in medical supplies and $320,000
in infrastructure costs. According to LBJ, the hospital
anticipates more expenditures for more COVID-19 project
supplies and equipment. And just to make a long story short, as
of June 14th, total test kits on hand is 3,300 with 1,800 test
kits for the GeneXpert testing machines which serve to test
symptomatic patients and 1,500 test kits for the Abbott ID NOW
being used. So we're okay so far.
The Chairman. Good, good.
Senator Manchin.
Senator Manchin. Thank you, Madam Chairman.
First I would like to start with Congresswoman Radewagen
since you have no reported cases in American Samoa. Can you
tell us about what time period you all took action when you had
heard of COVID-19? This will go down the line to all of you,
but your timetable and what you did immediately that you think
was able to have the outcome you have had so far?
Mrs. Radewagen. Yes, Ranking Member Manchin. The borders
were closed right away in March----
Senator Manchin. Was that early March, about March 19th or
earlier than that?
Mrs. Radewagen. About the third week in March, I believe it
was.
Senator Manchin. Okay.
Mrs. Radewagen. And commercial flights were suspended and
they still are suspended as of now and it's been a big help but
we have a lot of angry constituents who are stuck up in the
states wanting to come home and ones who want to go up to the
states, but that has been very effective for us. And as you
mentioned, the Spanish Flu in 1918, it's exactly what they did.
They closed the borders.
Senator Manchin. We will just go right down the line, if we
can.
Congressman Sablan.
Mr. Sablan. Yeah, thank you, Senator Manchin.
We did as well. We closed just around the same time. Our
tourists come from South Korea, China and Japan, primarily. And
we were able to, we closed just as early as we could, although,
we were, I think, a week or two behind but still we were
blessed. We were very fortunate that we had no tourists coming
into the Marianas. There were two missionaries from the
Philippines, they all came to Saipan, just to Saipan and they
both, they were already infected and they both, they're the
only two infected individuals that actually passed away. But we
have been just very lucky. Thank God.
Senator Manchin. Congressman Plaskett.
Ms. Plaskett. I would say that we closed early and our
numbers remained very low until just recently. Most of our
infections have been travel-related, that is the----
Senator Manchin. Is that when you opened back up?
Ms. Plaskett. Right. Yes, sir.
Our Governor closed our hotels. While he was unable to
close the airlines, the fact that there were not hotel rooms
meant that people were not able to come. And Virgin Islanders,
like the other territories, are used to disaster, so when the
Governor says everything is shutdown, people usually comply. We
understand that.
We just, in this week, started to have some community
transmissions. That's a concern and so, thankfully, we will
begin the tracing. We have been doing a good job of the tracing
as well. But I think shutting down early and people following
has been what has helped us. Wouldn't you say, Jenniffer?
Miss Gonzalez-Colon. Thank you.
In our case, in Puerto Rico, of 3.3 million, we got 1,600
cases confirmed molecular test and 5,700 serological tests,
probable cases for a total of 7,400, but again, Puerto Rico
closed. It was in a strict curfew and shutdown on March 15. So
we were the first jurisdiction in the nation to do that. And
right now, the Governor just yesterday announced that there's
going to be a new requirement for all passengers arriving to
Puerto Rico to provide test results, molecular test or
serological test, before arriving to the island. We are doing
those tests onsite. They're voluntarily right now, but there's
going to be a requirement of providing at least 72 hours before
arriving. And if you are noncompliant with that, you're going
to have a 14-day quarantine on the island.
Mr. San Nicolas. We closed early as well, Senator, similar
to our colleagues in the CNMI, around the same time.
What the reality is on the ground now, however, is because
of these social programs that I mentioned earlier, not applying
to Guam and the various impact that it's having on our local
revenue streams, we're really running into that very real
sticky place where, you know, people want to stay safe and
secure and not bring the virus in but we're such a tourism
dependent economy, that if we don't open up and if we don't
begin having flights coming in, the financial circumstances are
going to result in, perhaps, equally damaging healthcare
realities for many of our people.
And so, in the earlier question, Senator Murkowski, about
the PPE needs. While FEMA has been wonderful and HHS has been
wonderful in meeting our status quo needs, the reality is when
we bring these tourists in, we're going to have an exponential
need. We have 160,000 people living on Guam, but we bring in
1.6 million tourists a year, the most per capita of anywhere
else in the country. If we don't have PPE for those visitors,
we're just going to be inviting catastrophe and once that
spirals out of control, the tourism will shutdown all over
again.
And so, we have a very unique set of circumstances where we
need to understand that opening up eventually is going to have
to happen, but we're also going to need the resources and the
plans in place in order to do so responsibly so that it's
sustainable.
Senator Manchin. Let me just say, if I can take one more
liberty here. We know the economies are all struggling in all
states and all territories. We know that the economy is not
going to come back until we have a vaccine where people feel
safe, so they can really go out and operate like we have done
before.
So without the economy coming back the way you would like
for it to, can you, real quickly, just all of you, say what is
your greatest need you have? Do you think it is food that is
going to be the greatest concern you have sustaining your
citizens? Is it going to be your healthcare services, being
able to sustain your healthcare services that they might be
needing? What would you term or define as your greatest need? I
would assume you all are looking forward to another round of
COVID assistance in the CARES Act?
Mr. San Nicolas. Well, Senator, from our perspective we're
able to provide some unique set of eyes on that. Our
unemployment program is only now getting stood up. And so, we
can, kinda, give you an example of what happens when
unemployment isn't around anymore. On top of that, the eviction
moratoriums are expiring on the 25th of July. The Federal
Pandemic Unemployment Compensation is expiring at the end of
July.
And so, we're going to be facing multiple threats. Right
now, because unemployment has taken so long to roll out, we
have people literally lining up at two in the morning in their
cars waiting for food assistance to get handed out. And they'll
wait for four hours and then when they show up, when they
finally make it up to the front of the line, food's out. And
so, you know, food can be looked at as one definite need, but
definitely health care and it's all multifaceted. The reality
is until our economies are working again, those are all going
to be needs to include rental assistance, housing assistance.
And so, as my colleague from the CNMI mentioned earlier,
the HEROES Act does provide a significant amount of support
that we think would help carry us into where a vaccine would
probably be available. But absent any additional COVID relief,
similar to the CARES Act and on a continuous and ongoing basis,
particularly for our tourism-oriented economies, we're going to
be in a very, a very bad place.
Miss Gonzalez-Colon. In the case of Puerto Rico I think the
PPP is a very important program and everything is going to be
in during this summer, equal to unemployment. I will say health
care is one of the most important, in terms of Medicare and, of
course, the food assistance through NAP and I will say EBT.
In the agricultural program, I don't know what they said
happened with the territories, although we all qualify. In the
case of Puerto Rico, all specialty crops, like coffee, bananas,
plantains, many other of our produce are not listed as
qualifying. So our farmers are not eligible to receive all that
was approved just because our crops in the Caribbean or in the
islands are not listed as the main ones. We sent letters to
address that issue so we are waiting for USDA just to clarify.
But at least in our case, we're talking about mangos,
pineapple, all lettuce, peppers, jams, cilantro, passionfruit,
many others, all that the island produces is not included as a
regular crop.
Senator Manchin. I am sorry----
Mr. Sablan. If I may also, Senator.
In the Northern Marianas, you know, we have a cap on
Medicaid just like the rest of the territories and just as of
April, just after the COVID, of course, people lost their jobs
and additional 2,606 individuals are signed up for Medicaid,
qualified for Medicaid. And right now, Medicaid covers over 50
percent of the total U.S. citizens in the Marianas as of the
swabs, for example, and reagents, as of yesterday, testing
supplies available are the SolGent, of Korean products, 1,502
of test kits. The Abbott ID is 3,474 and the GeneXpert is
2,749. So yeah, we could expect to see these things run out in
a very short time.
Thank you.
Ms. Plaskett. Senator, I believe it's economic. The support
for unemployment and the equitable treatment, if there are
funding to states to have that funding to go to the territories
which are going to take a long time in coming back up, I think,
are the most important.
Mrs. Radewagen. The short answer for American Samoa is all
of the above. We need everything. As a matter of fact, I would
say almost 90 percent of the goods and supplies are imported
and many of the things that are taken for granted in the United
States are things that we still have a tremendous need for.
Thank you.
The Chairman. Thank you, Senator Manchin.
Let's go to Senator Hirono, who is online.
Senator Hirono. Thank you, Madam Chair.
It is good to see all of you. Thank you so much for coming
to tell us what is happening in your countries.
So I have a question for Representative San Nicolas. Hawaii
and Guam are home to sizable populations of COFA citizens who
are not covered under Medicaid and this happened in my view,
inadvertently when the 1996 welfare, we will call it the
Welfare Reform Act, was enacted, and so the pandemic has
underscored the need for everyone to be covered by health
insurance and access to health care is really important.
Last July, I introduced the Covering our FAS Allies Act in
the Senate, and I am thankful to you, Representatives Sablan
and Radewagen, for cosponsoring the House companion bill. How
would restoring Medicaid benefits to COFA citizens by passing
the Covering our FAS Allies Act improve Guam's ability to
respond to the COVID-19 pandemic?
Mr. San Nicolas. Thank you very much, Senator, for the
question.
Because COFA migrants are not covered under Medicaid, they
fall under what Guam refers to as the medically indigent
program which is basically 100 percent local funded----
Senator Hirono. Yes.
Mr. San Nicolas. ----care to be provided for the COFA
migrant. Because we're not able to use those funds to get the
matching that we're able to get under Medicaid, we basically
are suffering from a loss of buying power, significant loss of
buying power because right now, I think, if recent legislation
passed, I believe that we're able to get over 80 percent
Medicaid matching now for every Medicaid dollar that Guam
spends. But we're not able to do that for the COFA migrants. So
basically, we're suffering from not being able to service three
times as many migrants who might need COVID treatments because
we're not able to leverage our dollar using Medicaid matching
resources.
Senator Hirono. So it would make a huge difference to Guam
as well as to Hawaii and there are other places now, Arkansas,
there are other places where COFA citizens live and they are
not covered under Medicaid. And so, it would make a huge
difference. For Hawaii, it would be a difference of millions
and millions of dollars.
I want to thank the members of the House, all of you, for
putting this item into, I believe it is in your CARES Act.
Thank you very much.
A question for Congresswoman Radewagen. Both of us are--
both for where you are, American Samoa, Hawaii--we are very
dependent on air travel for our tourists, of course, and right
now we do not have national standards for how to reopen air
travel faithfully. I have written a letter to the Department of
Transportation, Homeland Security, Secretary of State and
others for them to work together to come up with common
standards that airlines can follow rather than all the airlines
doing their own thing, the states, the airports, everybody
doing their own thing. Knowing how important travel is to both
American Samoa and, in fact, all of our territories, do you
agree that we should have national standards to enable air
travel to open safely?
Mrs. Radewagen. Well, right offhand it makes a lot of
sense.
Senator Hirono. What about the rest of you? Do you agree?
The rest of the panel?
Ms. Plaskett. I'm reluctant to impose national standards on
airlines throughout the country and I think, however, that it's
Congress' responsibility to continually question and have some
oversight over the airlines as they engage in what their
practices are going to be. You know, there are constitutional
issues that, kind of, make me cringe when I think about what
may need to be done for our airlines and airports, restrictions
that can and cannot work. And you know, I'm looking to see what
your bill looks like, Senator, that would be very interesting
to review to see how that can be done in a manner that is safe
for all Americans but still keeps businesses competitive and
independent.
Mr. Sablan. Senator, if I may?
Senator Hirono. Actually, Representative Plaskett, it is
not a bill. It is a request to the federal agencies that have
oversight over various aspects of air travel to come together
with some common kinds of standards. For example, the FAA
imposes all kinds of standards on our airlines and our airports
all the time. So this is really a request that we have some
common standards because what you are now going to face are
different airports having different requirements, different
airlines having different requirements.
Ms. Plaskett. Right.
Senator Hirono. And it makes air travel pretty tough, I
would say.
Ms. Plaskett. Yes, it does.
Senator Hirono. And since we are so dependent, it is not a
bill. I hope that you all can agree with me that that would
probably be a good thing.
Ms. Plaskett. Thank you.
Senator Hirono. Congressman Sablan, would you like to add
anything to that? If not, I will go on to the next question.
Mr. Sablan. Yes, I'm willing to look at what you're
offering, Senator Hirono.
You know, I just flew in. I have to fly to Guam.
Senator Hirono. Yes.
Mr. Sablan. A whole day in Guam, fly to Hawaii, Senator.
Senator Hirono. Yes.
Mr. Sablan. To Houston, then DC. It is difficult and it's
scary to ride in an airplane.
Senator Hirono. Not to mention, by the way, that the CARES
Act and the COVID bills provided billions for the airlines.
Mr. Sablan. Yes.
Senator Hirono. And now they are getting back to, pretty
much, packing their airplanes and I do not think that is what
the CDC is recommending in terms of spacing and social
distancing. So I think we need to remain very concerned about
what is going on with air travel.
Mr. Sablan. Right. Between San Francisco and Honolulu there
are actually full flights often----
Senator Hirono. Yes, and I think that is not particularly
safe.
Am I, Madam Chair, am I over my time? I can't tell.
The Chairman. Yes, Senator Hirono, you are.
Senator Hirono. Thank you.
The Chairman. Thank you.
Senator Hirono. I will submit my other questions, but I
thank the panelists.
The Chairman. Senator Hirono, thank you. I think you offer
a very important perspective coming from our islanded state.
Several of you, well, just about everybody does have to
some extent a reliance on the cruise industry to bring your
tourists and for many of you it is a significant part of your
tourist base. We have been talking about the restrictions and
limitations on air travel and, believe me, in Alaska we know
what it means to have your summer visitors decide that they are
going to go somewhere else when they look and see that well,
there is a 14-day quarantine if I come to your state and I
don't want to spend my whole vacation in a hotel somewhere. So
that is not a good option for us.
For us, we were expecting 1.4 million tourists to come to
Alaska this summer on cruise ships. As you all have indicated,
we are, as they say, dead in the water. There are no cruise
ships that are coming, possibly in September, but it does not
make for a season. And for us, that season is over in
September. As much as everybody wants to come to Alaska, they
do not view it as their winter vacation and that is why they
don't sell those cruises then.
But for you all that is an opportunity when the industry,
kind of, gets back to work here. But I recognize that right now
we have an industry that is not ready to receive the passengers
and in many of the communities, the communities do not want to
receive people that are coming off a cruise ship. So the
question that I would have to you and all of you who welcome
the cruise industry to your regions is what movement you have
seen from the CDC to work to develop these health and safety
protocols so that not only do the passengers feel that it is
safe to get on these ships but the communities feel safe in
receiving them--because I know in Alaska's experience, we have
several of our communities that have said as much as we want
the revenues that are going to come in when you stop, we are
not sure that we want to run that risk if this is still high
risk for COVID.
So if you can speak to that, Miss Gonzalez?
Miss Gonzalez-Colon. Madam Chair.
The Chairman. Congresswoman.
Miss Gonzalez-Colon. We agree on what you are experiencing
in Alaska. We're having the same thing in San Juan which is our
major port for cruise ships. And having said that, they're
going to be suspended, all cruise ships, to December. Right
now, the impact between March 14 and now is pretty much $66
million, at least in Puerto Rico.
So we're talking about a direct impact in tourism, even
though tourism is seven percent of the GDP of the island, many
people think that number is higher. It's just seven percent.
We're talking about the airlines coming to the island as well,
passengers. We've got several airports and now we're just
serving San Juan as a way to try to receive all of them and do
the voluntary test. The National Guard in Puerto Rico are doing
voluntary testing of all passengers that are arriving. But
again, if you are not complying with that, that's the reason
the new Executive Order from the Governor requesting 72-hours
before a test be made by the passenger.
And I know the Senator was explaining before, and I agree
with Congresswoman Plaskett, is the issue that we can do that,
Hawaii can do that or any different jurisdiction but we need to
have a uniform way to address this issue, not just where the
passenger is coming from, but how are we going to comply with
legal issues and at the same time how you balance health and
economy because we need to learn how to live with this because
today is COVID-19 but maybe in several months it's going to be
another virus.
So we need, in terms of the CDC or what are going to be the
guidelines? We did a hearing in the House, not just in T&I
Committee, Transportation and Infrastructure, but several
others just for the tourism industry about cruises and planes
because we don't want to lose a lot of the airplane's routes
that are serving smaller airports across our island. And I
assume that's the same thing happening in Alaska because one
thing is the international airport but the local ones are,
right now, directly impacted because all those flights are
cancelled.
The Chairman. And some of those companies are now going
bankrupt.
Congresswoman Plaskett.
Ms. Plaskett. Senator, may I point something out that I
find really interesting about how we attempted to deal with
CARES Act and the economic impact? We have, the CARES Act put
money in airports. We gave money to airlines. We also gave to
local economies based on the number of individuals infected.
But there has not been money given to marine ports, you know,
for us, like Puerto Rico and these other islands, our ports are
our lifeline for supplies, Senator Manchin, like you were
talking about food and others. There's not been funding given
to that.
And there have not been given funding to places like Alaska
and others that have, were reliant on cruise ship passengers
and what that means to their economies. We spent a lot of time
focused on airlines throughout this, whether it's CDC
guidelines for how airlines were going to open, but not much in
effort has been put on shipping, ports and these cruise lines.
And I think that's something that you're, we're recognizing and
I'm glad you raised that question because I don't think there's
been a lot of, a lot of effort put in there.
The Chairman. I think it is something that we need to be
engaged with the CDC on this to make sure that, again, but that
there is this back and forth, if you will, in terms of
understanding what these protocols are and a recognition that
we are dealing with health safety issues, but we are also
dealing with significant economic repercussions as well.
Let me turn to Senator Manchin.
Senator Manchin. My heart goes out to all of you. It really
does. I have been able to visit some, and I have enjoyed every
time I have been there, but I know on top of the disasters, the
natural disasters, the hurricanes coming through, folks are
still trying to recover from that and hitting on top of this
and economies flattening out completely.
I don't know what the next round is going to be. I really
can't tell you that. It is not going to be as robust as you all
have done over in the House, but what we are going to do is, we
are going to pinpoint. We want to find out really and I think
you all can help us, all of you. Tell us what has not worked,
because we are all different. West Virginia is different than
Texas and California. Puerto Rico is going to be a little bit
different than American Samoa and the Virgin Islands, and we
all have different needs. We have got to be able now to do a
surgical attack. This has to be a surgical attack the next
time, how we are able to help and assist and where it may be,
unemployment?
Okay, I am having a problem with unemployment compensation
right now because the $600 on top of the unemployment, people
won't go back to work. They are just not going back. They won't
go back until it runs out on July 31st. Now with that being
said, you can't take a sinister approach and say, okay, no
more. What I thought from day one, it should be, ``keep them
whole.'' Whatever their paycheck was, we will keep that
paycheck whole until we get this economy moving again. We have
bumped up an incentive and it really just incentivized people
to want to get back into action. It is going to be a rude
awakening on July 31st to a lot of people. It is going to stop.
Yes, Stacey?
Ms. Plaskett. May I say something, Senator?
Senator Manchin. Sure.
Ms. Plaskett. One area that I think we need to be careful
of because the territories usually receive reimbursement in
terms of stipends, I know for us, our seniors are still waiting
for funding for social security.
Senator Manchin. Yes.
Ms. Plaskett. We're still waiting for the IRS and Treasury
to send the list to the Governors so that they can get that
money out to individuals. But one of the good things I want to
tell a story about is for us the PPP program for small
businesses has worked tremendously well, particularly in the
second round of funding when it was targeted toward smaller
banks because we're in a small community and the banks know the
businesses.
Senator Manchin. Oh, yes.
Ms. Plaskett. We were able to get large amounts to our
small businesses----
Senator Manchin. That was the second round you are talking
about?
Ms. Plaskett. Yes.
Senator Manchin. Yes, we all got hit, every rural area in
America got hit the same as the islands got hit, money was not
going out to them.
Ms. Plaskett. And then how did the second round do for
your----
Senator Manchin. Much better. Oh, yes, much better on that
and we have looked at that and, you know, there is a lot of
money left. There is over $400 billion left in the large loan
programs which the corporations would not take----
Ms. Plaskett. Right.
Senator Manchin. ----because they did not want to be held
to the strict guidelines that you could not give bonuses and
you could not have stock buybacks. So there is a lot of money
in play right now that we can retransfer, if you will, and
surgically put it in areas it is really needed. That is what we
are looking at and we just have not done enough in evaluating
it. We are going to wait until everything runs out and someone
says, let's throw a chunk of more money to it. I don't think
that is going to happen. So the more we can do right now to
surgically help each one of you all, the same as all of our
states need help, too, is what we really should be doing.
Ms. Plaskett. Mr. San Nicolas, my junior colleague there, I
like reminding him that he is a freshman, has been doing some
tremendous work on financial services, and one of the letters
that he wrote was about municipal credit facilities which the
territories were not eligible for. The Treasury decided that
they were not going to include us. They interpreted on their
own that we weren't eligible to receive that funding.
Senator Manchin. You all did receive--the same as the
states, every state got a minimum. The smallest states in
America got $1.25 billion that went to their states to assist
them in trying to help to the expense of Coronavirus. Did all
of the territories, didn't you all receive----
Ms. Plaskett. We did not receive----
Mr. Sablan. No.
Ms. Plaskett. No.
Senator Manchin. You received some but not $1.25, I know
that.
Mr. San Nicolas. Specifically, to the municipal liquidity
facility that's administered by the Fed, territories are not
able to access that at all and that's an issue because our
liquidity is incredibly strained. And I've raised this issue
with Chairman Powell, my Chairwoman in the FSC Committee--
Chairman Waters raised it today again. They're saying that
they're looking at it, but if we can get help to have the Fed
really understand that, you know, getting territories access to
that liquidity facility is critical at this time.
Ms. Plaskett. We did receive the federal funding that each
one of the states got. It's just that our percentage was very
different than the rest of the states were.
Senator Manchin. Was it because of the infection rate or--
--
Ms. Plaskett. No, because they decided that they were going
to create a separate amount of funding for the territories and
then allow us to split that up in the same way that they do
Medicaid. They came up with a number that they----
Senator Manchin. Are any of you hurting right now,
basically not being able to meet your Coronavirus expenses, the
expenses directly to the virus?
Mr. Sablan. Yes. Yes.
Senator Manchin. You are?
Mr. Sablan. Yes. And Senator Manchin, may I?
Senator Manchin. Sure.
Mr. Sablan. Just as a matter of, you know, a matter of law,
the PUA and FPUA, the unemployment compensation, for example,
the Department of Labor, the U.S. Department of Labor has
interpreted that and for purposes of the COFA nation citizens
who reside in the United States, has interpreted, they have
gone instead, instead of interpreting it based on the law, they
have gone actually to FEMA and asked FEMA to give them an
interpretation on how it's interpreted based on the Stafford
Act.
Now, the Stafford Act is different. I mean, this
unemployment compensation has eligibility requirements for
unemployment, especially in the Pacific Island nations, but
citizens of COFA are not eligible because the U.S. Department
of Labor went to FEMA and got their interpretation in terms of
the Stafford Act which first, they're not eligible, but they
meet the eligibility under the CARES Act, unfortunately. And
so, I'm sure there's a whole lot more in Guam, Hawaii. You
know, just as of last night when I found out that 1,100
citizens of COFA who work for Tysons are infected, 1,100.
That's a large number and I don't know who is going to pay for
their hospital bills.
Mrs. Radewagen. Senator Manchin, getting back to your
question on what hasn't worked. I would say that for American
Samoa, getting funding to the people--the SBA waiting period
and the deadlines, and the unemployment funds are just
beginning to come in.
Senator Manchin. Yes.
Mrs. Radewagen. Those are some of the key things that
haven't worked for American Samoa.
Senator Manchin. Thank you.
Yes?
Miss Gonzalez-Colon. Mr. Senator, I think one of the issues
that we've got back home, even when we receive the full amount
for the state the municipalities were not allowed to receive
because all of them do not meet the 500,000 people threshold.
So that's an issue when you've got municipalities suffering
from the earthquakes, same thing to still recovering from the
hurricanes and then now we've got the COVID-19 and us, in the
Caribbean, now facing the Sahara dust that is, you know,
another issue.
So housing is an issue for Puerto Rico and even though we
receive $20 billion from CDBG funds, not all of them are
already on the islands. So one of the asks that we're trying to
have is if we can, schools and houses that were impacted by the
hurricanes were impacted as well with the earthquakes, so if we
can use those funds to repair, no matter if it was the
hurricane or the earthquake, those facilities, because right
now, it's just labeled that money and you can't use it to
repair in that sense. So it's commonsense. You cannot touch the
money from the earthquakes to the money from the hurricanes.
Senator Manchin. Let's see if we can help you on that.
Miss Gonzalez-Colon. Thank you.
Senator Manchin. It is crazy.
Thank you, all.
The Chairman. Thank you, Senator Manchin.
That was a great question, what has not worked, and I think
it is important that we understand from lessons learned. Again,
I think we recognize that when we put in place the CARES Act,
we were moving a lot of money out real quick and we were going
to either undershoot or overshoot or miss the mark altogether.
And we have learned, we have made some adjustments on that.
Some of them have not come in a very timely manner, but they
have come. But if we are going to be moving forward in yet
another round, it does not make sense to just add money to a
program that has clearly demonstrated that it fails certain
constituencies. And if we need to make those adjustments, we
need to do just that.
As I think about how this country, our territories, move
forward, and thinking about economic recovery, so much of it is
in what you all have outlined with regards to things that are
just, really, critically important when it comes to health care
and Medicaid and just all of the reimbursement issues. But I
want to talk hard infrastructure just for a moment because
there is a lot of discussion around here, oh, yes, we are going
to do an infrastructure bill. Well we have been talking about
that for a long while, and we are running out of daylight here.
But, one of the things that we have really come to
appreciate, I think, during this time of COVID is that our
healthcare, our education system is made stronger if you have
good broadband, you have the ability to do telehealth or
distance learning. So I am curious to know from those of you if
internet broadband is a consideration, an issue for you. In
other hard infrastructure I know that we passed legislation
here five years ago directing DOI to develop energy action
plans for the territories. And so, you know, that often is
viewed, energy infrastructure to deliver clean energy solutions
where you are not relying on diesel that is shipped in, is
something that, I think, we all look to as a future.
Congresswoman Gonzalez, you mentioned the Puerto Rico
Aqueduct and Sewer Authority, the WaterSMART grants,
recognizing that, again, when you are talking about a pandemic
it is really important that you have clean water for your
citizens.
As we think about infrastructure, I would be curious to
hear from the five of you what could be beneficial from an
economic recovery perspective that you would classify in this
particular bucket. We will go down this direction, so we will
start with you, Congressman San Nicolas.
Mr. San Nicolas. Thank you. Thank you, Senator.
I'd first like to recognize my colleague, Congresswoman
Plaskett, because she's done tremendous work to increase the
allotment for our roadways in the territories and that's being
included in our infrastructure bill in the House that we're
currently working on. I know that my colleague also,
Congresswoman Gonzalez-Colon, actually wanted to increase that
amount further. Roadway infrastructure is a serious issue,
especially on Guam. Our weather conditions make for a very
short lifespan for even a well-built road. On top of that,
because we don't have the same kind of investment in public
transportation that a lot of the states have, we have a lot of
drivers on these roads. And so, road wear and tear from use,
road wear and tear from environmental conditions result in a
lot of roadwork that needs to be taken care of.
And so, these additional road resources are very welcomed,
but I would like to ask if there is a way for us to consider,
at least for our territories, those road resources are
specifically for routed roads, but we have a lot of secondary
roads on our island that do not have any kind of funding
resources. They are, perhaps, not perhaps, they absolutely are
in worse shape than our federally-routed roads that do have the
federal resources. And with the COVID-19 circumstances and our
tax revenue base dropping out of the bottom, I don't see any
local resources being available to maintain secondary roads
anytime soon. And so, I mean, road infrastructure, all the way
back to Roman times, has been critical for economic
sustainability. That's something that I would very much like to
ask to be a priority for the infrastructure bill.
The Chairman. Very good.
Congresswoman.
Miss Gonzalez-Colon. In the case of Puerto Rico, I need to
say that we are right now having a drought. So beside all the
situation, our condition is living in the Caribbean add more
pressure to the resources. So we are the only territory, the
only state in the whole nation that is excluded from the
WaterSMART Grants Eligibility Act that actually works with
drought resiliency and fresh water. So that's an easy one,
right? Just including us as the rest of the states.
The second, I will say, is the rural areas for broadband.
There's a reality that right now you need to move forward a lot
of schools to go to remote work with kids. We've still got a
problem with schools in the south part of the island because
those municipalities were impacted by the earthquakes. So you
get one town like, Guanica, all six schools are closed. So
you've really got a situation back home in terms of access to
broadband in the rural areas on the island.
In terms of the infrastructure for, I'll say, ports, being
an island, ports should be in the best condition ever and not
just the San Juan area, but the rest of the ports on the
island. In terms of the, we receive a block grant as a
territory for roads and highways. Our problem is that having
the same metrics that you use for lines in the rest of the
states who are receiving that allocation, Puerto Rico is just
receiving $200 million when the states that make, compared to
us, will be receiving $418. So we are asking to remove the cap
or, at least, increase the amount of funds going to highways
and local roads because we are, I mean, we are not receiving,
using the same metrics, the money that should be used for
infrastructure. And Puerto Rico's infrastructure serves a lot
of the pharmaceutical that supplies the national supply chains
and many others.
So, and social security incomes, supplemental, SSI, I mean,
a lot of our elderly people are not receiving those resources
and you see the poverty level line of 43 percent is because all
this program, instead of having SNAP, which is the program all
states got for food assistance, in the territories we receive
NAP, at least in Puerto Rico. That means it's the less of the
funds and resources as well.
So I say, infrastructure for taking the cap for the
blockgrant, moving us from the rural areas for broadband in
rural areas and, of course, the WaterSMART. And I'm not talking
here about energy that you may know, you were on the island
that we are having a lot of, 40 percent of petroleum, 39
percent of gas and 18 percent of coal, just two percent of
renewables and all the infrastructure suffer by the hurricanes
and the earthquakes and we don't have access yet to the $1.9
billion allocated by Congress to manage the energy area.
The Chairman. Here we go, we have three more to finish this
up and then we will turn to Senator Cantwell.
Congresswoman Plaskett.
Ms. Plaskett. I'll be very quick.
In terms of infrastructure I think one of the major ones is
trans-shipment which would include ports, but I think we have
the potential and there had been discussion previously about
utilizing either Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands for LNG trans-
shipment to the rest of the Caribbean. And I think that's
something that needs to be put back on the plate.
I'm working with a colleague, the Dean of the House from
Alaska, Don Young, about support for ferry systems in our areas
which are remote needed, but I think also your discussion about
broadband. In my estimation, broadband is for transportation
the same way that the railroads were in the 1800s. It is the
way that goods and services, information is going to be
transported in this country and we need to make the investment
in it. The Virgin Islands has some of the--has the largest
broadband capacity in the United States, outside of New York
City, more than Silicon Valley, elsewhere because Global
Crossing put their North American hub on the island of St.
Croix. But our children have the lowest bandwidth capacity.
They have the lowest speed because they do not have that access
in that last mile coming to their homes. That's inexcusable,
and so the investment in that is really, I think, key to us
being also able to grow our economy.
So thanks.
The Chairman. That is very interesting information.
Let's go to Congressman Sablan.
Mr. Sablan. Yeah, thank you.
I'd also echo broadband. I come from a place where no less
than 60 percent of our students fall below the poverty level,
and so many of them do not have access to broadband. But also
in terms of schools, the Army Corps of Engineers did a study in
2013, Senator, and actually made an inventory of school
facilities and found that the schools were just in need of
repair, and a middle school in Saipan--which was built right
after the war has finally--was destroyed by our recent super
typhoon and students are now taking classes in tents.
Having said that, again, in H.R. to consider today we have
the reopen and restore schools language from the Ed & Labor and
provide money for $100 million, $100 billion to restore or to
cancel deferred maintenance for school facilities throughout
the nation. And so yes, schools are also very in need.
And if I may, Senator, the Energy Task Force that was by
law assigned to Interior, nothing has come out of that except
the organization of the task force. I've been bringing that up
twice a year at least.
The Chairman. Yes.
Mr. Sablan. Thank you.
The Chairman. I figured as much.
Congresswoman Radewagen, you get the last word here.
Mrs. Radewagen. Thank you, Chairman Murkowski.
With regard to infrastructure, my written testimony that's
being submitted addresses many of the details and key needs
there for us. But thank you also for bringing up
interconnectivity, the internet. I'm not the most tech savvy
person, but in short, yes, we need both more high-speed
connectivity and more tech training for our young professionals
and students at the American Samoa Community College, our only
community college. Additional broadband grants will provide
this generation with must-have tools to be part of the virtual
and teleworking economy that's growing more rapidly than ever
due to the ongoing health crisis and our local CBOC for
veterans also heavily relies on internet connectivity for
telehealth. Investment into telecommunications has increasingly
become the most important lifeline to the outside world for
these remote islands, but we are making progress here. And as I
am live from 7,000+ miles away. Thank you.
The Chairman. Thank you, Congresswoman.
Senator Cantwell.
Senator Cantwell. Thank you, Madam Chair, and thank you for
this hearing.
If I could go back to Congresswoman Radewagen. Samoa has, I
think, no cases so far but as travel is starting to open up,
obviously we have had various hearings in the Commerce
Committee about standards that we would like to see in the
aviation sector so that there are uniform health standards
across. What steps do you think need to be taken by the Federal
Government to have confidence in reopening commercial air
travel to the island?
Mrs. Radewagen. Well, I think that, I want to complement
the Governor here and his task force and the working team on
the things that they've put into place that has worked very
well for us at this point in time. And I think that, of course,
we need more resources, but the Federal Government has been
working closely with the local government to see that we can
continue to be the only state or territory that has not a
single positive case. That's a good thing.
Senator Cantwell. How do you think people feel about air
travel at this point?
Mrs. Radewagen. Well, I think that there are a lot of angry
constituents out there. People want to travel, always want to
travel, and it's been tough for us. We only have one airline
and when that shuts down, nothing moves and it's really by the
Grace of God that I haven't--here after spending two weeks of
quarantine in Hawaii and then I managed to get on a flight to
come down and then immediately into another two weeks of
quarantine here in American Samoa. I don't know if I'm
answering your question, but----
Senator Cantwell. We all care about air travel and it is
essential for moving goods and services and for our mail,
medical supplies, so we want our airlines to operate. I am
asking you because, obviously, it is so much a part of your
economy, tourism, and my feeling is if we get this right and we
could get national standards in place, if we could get some
distancing and some processes and procedures that had to be
followed, you might get to a level where the public feels more
comfortable in flying.
So we have just been pushing for standards, even if they
are, you know, guidelines that would be implemented by all the
airlines. Again, we know that American Samoa has a strong
tourism economy and probably really counts on this, so we are
just looking for the day that we can get that restarted. Thank
you.
Thank you, Madam Chair.
Mrs. Radewagen. Yes, and as I mentioned to Senator Hirono,
it makes sense. I think it makes sense to take a good look at
that.
The Chairman. Thank you, Senator Cantwell.
Thank you, all. I appreciate what you have provided us. I
think there has been a good review on some lessons learned but
also how COVID-19 has really helped shine a spotlight on some
of the disparities that we have, not just within how our
territories are treated, but some of the disparities that we
see here in mainland United States. You look at the
vulnerabilities of so many of our minority populations and you
think about how we can work to be responsive, again, not only
when it comes to the health and safety of individuals but then
how we are responsive to the economic impact as a follow-on
from COVID-19.
It is a challenge, but hearing what you have provided the
Committee today, I think, is a reminder, certainly to me as a
state that while we are not an island, sometimes we feel like
an island up there not sharing a common border with the rest of
the Lower 48, but in a recognition of the reliance of your
economies on a tourism base that can literally be shutdown
overnight and be cut off then for not just the period where the
health is at risk, but again, once you lose that season, you
lose that season for possibly a year. The fact that so many of
our territories are still struggling to recover from various
natural disasters, whether it is the hurricanes in the
Caribbeans or the most recent earthquakes or the typhoons out
in the Pacific. These are still very real natural disasters
that you have not even been able to take a deep breath in your
recovery to move on to this next one.
I think the reason that we wanted to have this discussion
today was to make sure that as we work toward a broader
national effort toward recovery, that we are not forgetting our
territories. I don't care, Congresswoman Radewagen, whether you
are 7,000 miles away or you are 700 miles away, we have a
responsibility here, and it is just more challenging in certain
places than others because of the geography, but it is
respecting the people on the ground where ever they may be.
I think you are probably going to be fielding some
questions for the record from other colleagues, and we will
appreciate your weighing in.
But use us here in the Energy and Natural Resources
Committee as a resource if you have more information following
on that you think we need to know in anticipation of the work
that we are going to be doing over here in the month of July.
That would be very helpful and truly, very welcome.
We thank you for your partnership in this, and we thank you
for the representation that you provide for your constituents
as well.
With that, the Committee stands adjourned.
[Whereupon, at 4:23 p.m. the hearing was adjourned.]
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