[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 124 (Tuesday, July 31, 2007)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1655-E1656]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




           CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER FOR THE VIRGIN ISLANDS ACT

                                 ______
                                 

                       HON. DONNA M. CHRISTENSEN

                           of virgin islands

                    in the house of representatives

                         Monday, July 30, 2007

  Mrs. CHRISTENSEN. Madam Speaker, H.R. 2107 fulfills my commitment to 
my constituents to continue the effort to create a Chief Financial 
Officer for the Territory. This is the third time that this legislation 
has been on the floor of the House. However, the other body failed to 
act on it in the previous two Congresses.
  When I first introduced the idea of a CFO for the Virgin Islands in 
2005, I did so in response to the concerns, complaints and distrust of 
government voiced by my constituents and as a measure to prevent the 
territory, which was experiencing a serious financial crisis, from 
falling into the abyss of fiscal insolvency. I believed then, as I do 
now, that having such an office in our government, free of political 
pressures and with the statutory responsibility and authority to 
certify revenue projections and prevent deficit spending, could assist 
our government to establish sound financial practices which would put 
the Islands on the path to improved financial management going forward. 
Because of our long history of poor financial management and practices, 
an office such as this would also help to immediately restore the 
confidence of the Federal Government and others in our ability to be 
fiscally transparent and accountable.
  As I have said on this floor and in many other settings, in drafting 
H.R. 2017, I looked at the example and record of what having such a 
position has meant to the financial management and fiscal health of the 
District of Columbia.
  After having decades of fiscal mismanagement and protracted deficits, 
the District today enjoys annual balanced budgets and surpluses under 
the stewardship of a Chief Financial Officer; an office that was 
voluntarily retained by the city after the mandated office went away 
with the end of their Financial Control Board. Both the general public 
and elected leadership of the District recognize the benefits of having 
an impartial arbiter, free from the pressures of politics, managing 
their finances--something I strongly believe my community can benefit 
from as well.
  When I first introduced this bill the territory's long-term debt 
totaled $1 billion. Fiscal crises have been narrowly averted through 
repeated borrowing. Such borrowing and debt creation has led to the $3 
billion debt reported by Governor De Jongh in April of this year--a 
practice he has already stated he will not continue.
  There are those, Madam Speaker, who will ask why I am doing this at 
this time, particularly because the islands just seven months ago, 
inaugurated a new governor whose background is in financial management 
and who has been a good friend and political ally. I want to be 
perfectly clear that I have every confidence in Governor John de Jongh 
and his administration and believe that they will do a first rate job 
of managing the territory's finances. He has already begun to do so.
  I am re-introducing this bill because my constituents continue to see 
it as a necessary measure, and because, like the CFO in Washington, DC, 
it can assist our governor in his stated goal of paying our obligations 
and bringing the territory's finances into balance. It would also be a 
way to provide apolitical and indisputable information on the financial 
state of our government, as well as bridge any divisions between the 
administration and the legislature in the interests of expediting a 
positive and sustainable agenda for the people of the Virgin Islands.

[[Page E1656]]

  As also happens up here, there is often disagreement between the 
governor (and his financial team) and the legislature as to the precise 
fiscal condition of the territory and the true revenue projections for 
the coming fiscal year. A CFO, in my view, would take the uncertainty 
out of this equation and allow our legislature and governor to work 
better together because they would both get their numbers from the same 
independent source. Additionally, the departments of government, semi-
autonomous agencies and labor unions would be better able to plan, and 
the people of the Virgin Islands in general would have information on 
how the millions of Federal dollars coming to the Virgin Islands are 
being spent.
  The bill as being passed today contains certain changes. I have 
revised it with respect to providing a financial management system 
because such a system is already in the process of being implemented. 
In recognition of and in deference to the upcoming constitution to be 
drafted by the people of the Virgin Islands, the bill before us calls 
for the term of the Chief Financial Officer to expire at the 
implementation of a ratified Virgin Islands Constitution or in five 
years, whichever comes first.
  All four previous Constitutional documents have contained a provision 
similar to what is proposed in this legislation, and it is my hope that 
our Fifth Constitutional Convention will present a document for the 
ratification of the people of the Virgin Islands that will make this 
legislation unnecessary. In conclusion, Madam Speaker, I want to thank 
my friend and colleague, the Chairman of the Resources Committee, the 
gentleman from West Virginia, Nick Rahall, without whose support this 
bill would not be on the floor today. I also want to thank my friend 
Ranking Member Don Young for his support as well.
  Madam Speaker, it has been said that ``heavy is the burden that one 
who is called to lead bears''. Pursuing enactment of this bill has not 
been an easy burden to bear but an important one; which I am proud to 
bear. I urge my colleagues to support passage of H.R. 2107.

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