[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 167 (Tuesday, November 18, 2003)]
[House]
[Pages H11468-H11469]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




     INCREASING THE WAIVER REQUIREMENT FOR CERTAIN LOCAL MATCHING 
   REQUIREMENTS TO AMERICAN SAMOA, GUAM, THE VIRGIN ISLANDS, OR THE 
              COMMONWEALTH OF THE NORTHERN MARIANA ISLANDS

  Mr. SOUDER. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the 
bill (H.R. 1189) to increase the waiver requirement for certain local 
matching requirements for grants provided to American Samoa, Guam, the 
Virgin Islands, or the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, 
and for other purposes.
  The Clerk read as follows:

                               H.R. 1189

       Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
     the United States of America in Congress assembled,

     SECTION 1. WAIVER OF LOCAL MATCHING REQUIREMENTS.

       (a) Waiver of Certain Matching Requirements.--Section 501 
     of the Act entitled ``An Act to authorize certain 
     appropriations for the territories of the United States, to 
     amend certain Acts relating thereto, and for other 
     purposes'', approved October 15, 1977 (48 U.S.C. 1469a; 91 
     Stat. 1164) is amended--
       (1) in the last sentence of subsection (d), by striking 
     ``by law''; and
       (2) by adding at the end the following new subsection:
       ``(e) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, in the 
     case of American Samoa, Guam, the Virgin Islands, and the 
     Northern Mariana Islands, each department or agency of the 
     United States shall waive any requirement for local matching 
     funds (including in-kind contributions) that the insular area 
     would otherwise be required to provide for any grant as 
     follows:
       ``(1) For a grant requiring matching funds (including in-
     kind contributions) of $500,000 or less, the entire matching 
     requirement shall be waived.
       ``(2) For a grant requiring matching funds (including in-
     kind contributions) of more than $500,000, $500,000 of the 
     matching requirement shall be waived.''.
       (b) Conforming Amendment.--Section 601 of the Act entitled 
     ``An Act to authorize appropriations for certain insular 
     areas of the United States, and for other purposes'', 
     approved March 12, 1980 (48 U.S.C. 1469a note; 94 Stat. 90), 
     is amended by striking ``, and adding the following 
     sentence'' and all that follows through ``Islands.' ''.
       (c) Study.--Not later than 2 years after the date of the 
     enactment of this Act, the Secretary of the Interior shall 
     complete and submit to the Committee on Resources of the 
     House of Representatives and the Committee on Energy and 
     Natural Resources of the Senate the results of a study of the 
     implementation of the amendments made by subsection (a).

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from 
Indiana (Mr. Souder) and the gentleman from American Samoa (Mr. 
Faleomavaega) each will control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Souder).


                             General Leave

  Mr. SOUDER. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may 
have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks 
and include extraneous material on the bill under consideration.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from Indiana?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. SOUDER. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, H.R. 1189 which was introduced by my friend and 
colleague, the gentleman from American Samoa (Mr. Faleomavaega), is 
important as a component of the larger interest in encouraging economic 
development in the territories.
  I would like to add, earlier the gentleman from American Samoa (Mr. 
Faleomavaega) talked about his many friends in Arizona. A few years ago 
I was fortunate to travel with the gentleman and Speaker Hastert around 
the Middle East and other countries. Everywhere we went we met Samoans. 
They all knew who he was. He has friends around the world in multiple 
continents. I can verify to that, as can the Speaker, not just in 
Arizona and his home area. Samoans were everywhere. I very much 
appreciate that.
  Many Americans do not realize the role that our committee plays with 
this. This is a very important bill to the territories. H.R. 1189 
increases the waiver for certain local matching requirements for all 
United States territories. Currently, Federal law allows Federal 
agencies or departments to waive the first $200,000 in matching 
requirements to the U.S. territories of American Samoa, Guam, the 
Virgin Islands, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. 
This legislation will increase that amount to $500,000. Further, for a 
grant requiring matching funds of more than $500,000 the legislation 
waives the first $500,000 of the matching requirement.
  It is important to note that H.R. 1189 will also end the inconsistent 
manner in which current law is applied to the matching waiver. With 
this bill, the waiver will apply to all Federal agencies and 
departments making grants to the U.S. territories, not just the 
Department of Interior.
  The bill of the gentleman from American Samoa (Mr. Faleomavaega) 
closely resembles legislation introduced by Delegate Underwood in the 
107th Congress which was also reported with strong bipartisan support 
by the Committee on Resources. It is clear that while territorial 
economies, in general, have improved over the last several years, each 
government continues to be challenged with rising unemployment, 
decreased government revenues, and limited new capital for 
diversification. Passage of this legislation today and its eventual 
enactment will truly broaden the U.S. Territories' access to Federal 
grants which should help to grow their unique economies.
  I commend the gentleman from American Samoa (Mr. Faleomavaega) for 
working with this committee and others to ensure this legislation moves 
forward. I urge my colleagues to support H.R. 1189.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may 
consume.
  (Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA asked and was given permission to revise and extend 
his remarks.)
  Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA. Mr. Speaker, I rise to support H.R. 1189, a bill to 
assist our insular territories by waiving matching requirements at a 
certain Federal level for Federal grant programs. I would like to thank 
the gentleman from California (Chairman Pombo) and the gentleman from 
West Virginia (Mr. Rahall) of the Committee on Resources for their 
continued support regarding the needs of our island territories and for 
their help in bringing this legislation to the floor today.
  I would also be mindful in expressing my appreciation to the support 
and cosponsorship of the gentlewoman from Guam (Ms. Bordallo) and the 
gentlewoman from the Virgin Islands (Mrs. Christensen) and my good 
friend, the Resident Commissioner, the gentleman from Puerto Rico (Mr. 
Acevedo-Vila) for their support.
  H.R. 1189 is a bill that would increase the waiver requirement for 
certain local matching requirements for grants provided for the 
territories of American Samoa, Guam, the Virgin Islands, and the 
Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.
  Mr. Speaker, Congress first enacted a matching waiver requirement for 
the territories in 1980, recognizing the difficulty of territorial 
governments to access Federal grant money that required matching as the 
basis of a funding. At that time the waiver was set at $100,000 for 
American Samoa and the CNMI. And later in 1983 and 1984 the law was 
amended to increase the requirements to $200,000 and was simultaneously 
added to the territories of the Guam and Virgin Islands for 
eligibility. It has now been 20 years since the law has been revisited, 
and the current waiver of $200,000 has been proven to be inadequate to 
meet the needs of these insular areas.

[[Page H11469]]

  Mr. Speaker, our territorial governments continue to be challenged 
with rising unemployment, decreased government revenues, and 
impediments to attracting new capital for diversification. The insular 
areas simply do not have the financial resources to meet the matching 
fund requirements required by Federal law. Consequently, we are often 
unable to apply for the Federal grants that we need to address critical 
issues like health, education, and economic development. H.R. 1189 
would alleviate these difficulties by increasing the waiver requirement 
to $500,000.
  Mr. Speaker, H.R. 1189 the would also direct the Secretary of the 
Interior to complete and to submit to the House Committee on Resources 
and the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources the results of 
a study of the implementation to the changes to the matching 
requirement made through this legislation. While it is clear that more 
comprehensive legislation is needed to bring about sustainable economic 
growth and relief for the insular areas, I believe this legislation 
will alleviate some of the economic difficulties we are facing.
  Again, Mr. Speaker, I would also like to take this opportunity to 
thank my colleagues, the gentlewoman from Guam (Ms. Bordallo), the 
gentlewoman from the Virgin Islands (Mrs. Christensen), the gentleman 
from Puerto Rico (Mr. Acevedo-Vila) for expressing their support. 
Again, I express my appreciation to the gentleman from California (Mr. 
Pombo) and the gentleman from West Virginia (Mr. Rahall) and the 
gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Souder). I want to let the gentleman from 
Indiana know that I did not forget that trip that we took to the Middle 
East. Yes, in fact, just about every military installation that we 
visited with the then chairman of the International Security 
Subcommittee of the Committee on Government Reform, the gentleman from 
Illinois, whose name was Mr. Hastert, who is now the Honorable Speaker 
of the House, from which I really enjoyed meeting not only with our 
soldiers and our troops in that opportunity that we had.
  Again, Mr. Speaker, I thank my good friend, the gentleman from 
Indiana (Mr. Souder) for his assistance in managing this proposed bill. 
I urge my colleagues to support this proposed legislation.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  Mr. SOUDER. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, I wanted to close, as someone who comes from the 
heartland of the United States, I know many of my constituents and 
others say, ``We still have territories?'' And then, ``Why are we doing 
grants to these territories?'' As my friend, the gentleman from 
American Samoa (Mr. Faleomavaega) has just pointed out, when you go 
through our Armed Services anywhere around the world, they are among 
the most active and volunteering for our militaries in these different 
territories, the bases that we have in these places, the beautiful 
natural resources, are very important to our survival as a country. 
They pay taxes. They support our Nation. This brings equity to them in 
the grant structure. And we can, in this time of international 
pressure, all of a sudden appreciate more American Samoa, Hawaii, 
Mariana Islands, Guam, are right out there where we need them to be. 
And we are very supportive of these territories. This bill goes a long 
way towards saying thank you.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the 
gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Souder) that the House suspend the rules 
and pass the bill, H.R. 1189.
  The question was taken; and (two-thirds having voted in favor 
thereof) the rules were suspended and the bill was passed.
  A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.

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