[Congressional Record Volume 160, Number 144 (Monday, December 1, 2014)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1670-E1671]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




            HISTORICAL RECORD OF ASCC'S UPWARD BOUND PROGRAM

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                       HON. ENI F.H. FALEOMAVAEGA

                           of american samoa

                    in the house of representatives

                        Monday, December 1, 2014

  Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to include, for 
historical purposes, information about the funding of an Upward Bound 
program at American Samoa Community College in 2003.

                     [Press Release, Oct. 9, 2003]

Faleomavaega Speaks Out About Confusion Surrounding ASCC's Upward Bound 
                                Program

       Congressman Faleomavaega announced today that he is 
     speaking out about the confusion surrounding ASCC's Upward 
     Bound Program and is also making all letters pertaining to 
     this matter available to the public.
       ``On June 22, 2003, Hipa Neria, the Director of ASCC's 
     Upward Bound Program, called my office and requested my 
     assistance in finding out whether or not ASCC's grant 
     application would be funded,'' Congressman

[[Page E1671]]

     Faleomavaega said. ``In response to Mr. Neria's request, my 
     office immediately called the U.S. Department of Education 
     (USDOE), learned that ASCC's grant would not be funded, and 
     informed Mr. Neria of the USDOE's decision.''
       ``Upon learning of the USDOE's decision, Mr. Neria provided 
     my office with additional information and requested my 
     assistance in defending and obtaining funding for ASCC's 
     proposal. In a letter dated June 24, 2003, Mr. Neria stated 
     that he had been informed by his colleagues in Washington not 
     to write, call, email or make any requests. Given the 
     seriousness of the situation and my desire to help American 
     Samoa's students, I wrote a letter dated July 10, 2003 to 
     Larry Oxendine, USDOE Director of the Federal TRIO programs 
     which includes Upward Bound. I also faxed Dr. Adele Satele-
     Galeai, President of ASCC, and Mr. Neria a copy of my 
     letter.''
       ``In my letter, I informed the USDOE that American Samoa 
     has a dire need for the services the Upward Bound Program 
     provides. I agreed with Mr. Neria's position that American 
     Samoa's socio-economic status, educational disparity, and 
     unique geographical location warranted a second review of 
     ASCC's application. I also stated that I believed American 
     Samoa would be credited additional points upon further review 
     of the Needs Section and I expressed my appreciation for Mr. 
     Oxendine's reconsideration of ASCC's application,'' 
     Congressman Faleomavaega said.
       ``As a follow-up to my letter to Mr. Oxendine, my office 
     continued its discussions with the USDOE. During these 
     discussions, the USDOE informed my office that more than 
     1,218 Upward Bound applications were submitted and only 792 
     were funded. USDOE also informed me that only proposals with 
     a score of 99.00 or greater were funded and ASCC's proposal 
     had received a score of 98.33. ASCC's proposal had also been 
     read and scored by three non-federal readers, as required by 
     federal law.''
       ``Although I was informed in July that the review process 
     could not be reopened, additional funds became available 
     about three weeks ago at which time the USDOE reviewed the 
     remaining proposals that had not been funded. Of the 
     applications remaining, 17 had higher scores than ASCC's 
     application and all 17 received funding. An additional 17 
     applications had scores equal to ASCC's application but the 
     USDOE only had money to fund one of the 17. Mr. Oxendine 
     chose to fund ASCC's application based on the fact that we 
     are an underserved area.''
       ``In a letter dated October 8, 2003, Mr. Oxendine stated 
     that my letter and the information received from my staff and 
     President Satele-Galea'i was very helpful in making the 
     decision to fund ASCC out of the group of 17 applications 
     with the next highest score. He also said that he was pleased 
     to inform me that ASCC's program would be funded at $220,000 
     for the 2003-2004 project period and, subject to future 
     appropriations, USDOE would be making funding available at 
     this level for three additional years.''
       ``Mr. Oxendine also apologized for the delay in informing 
     my office of his decision. In fact, he said he announced his 
     decision at a national TRIO conference in San Diego on Monday 
     September 29, 2003 and he was unaware that my office had not 
     yet been informed.''
       ``Again, I apologize for the confusion,'' Mr. Oxendine said 
     in his letter, `` `but I am sure you will agree that the 
     final outcome of our mutual efforts was highly successful.' 
     Like Mr. Oxendine, I do agree that our efforts were highly 
     successful and I want to especially thank Mr. Neria and Dr. 
     Satele-Galea'i for working closely with my office to 
     favorably resolve this issue. ``I also want to thank Chairman 
     Boehner of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce 
     for releasing a statement saying that `Congressman 
     Faleomavaega worked hard to restore ASCC's Upward Bound 
     funding, and I cannot take credit for his actions.' I 
     appreciate the Chairman's willingness to step forward and set 
     the record straight about this matter,'' Congressman 
     Faleomavaega said.
       ``Chairman Boehner is a friend of mine and he should be 
     commended for letting the people of American Samoa know that 
     he did not restore ASCC's Upward Bound funding. In fact, the 
     Chairman knew nothing about our Upward Bound funding until he 
     read a fabricated story published in the Samoa News on 
     October 1, 2003 which made claims that he worked with Mrs. 
     Amata Radewagen to resolve this issue.''
       ``Again, I thank Chairman Boehner for letting our people 
     know the truth. Neither Congresswoman Deborah Pryce nor the 
     House Republican Conference brought this matter to Chairman 
     Boehner's attention. Furthermore, the USDOE informed my 
     office that it received no letters from Congresswoman Deborah 
     Pryce or the House Republican Conference regarding ASCC's 
     Upward Bound Program funding. Other than the calls my office 
     made, the USDOE received only one phone call in late July 
     from a caller identifying herself as working for the House 
     Republican Conference. Mr. Oxendine spoke to this caller only 
     once and never heard from the caller again until after 
     September 29, 2003. After September 29, 2003, USDOE received 
     one more call from this same caller saying she had heard 
     through the grapevine that an announcement had been made in 
     San Diego and she wanted to verify the accuracy of this 
     report.''
       ``While I would be more than happy to credit anyone who 
     helped to restore ASCC's funding, I am pleased that the USDOE 
     and Chairman Boehner have cleared up the confusion 
     surrounding ASCC's Upward Bound Program. At this time, I want 
     to thank the USDOE and Mr. Oxendine for supporting and 
     funding the Upward Bound grant proposal submitted by ASCC. 
     After working with Dr. Satele-Galea'i and Mr. Neria for the 
     past several months, I also want to thank them for their hard 
     work.''
       ``Most of all, I want to wish our students the very best. 
     Upward Bound is an important college preparatory program and 
     I am hopeful that our students will take advantage of the 
     opportunities this program provides. As always, I am also 
     hopeful that our young people will pursue their four year 
     college degrees and return to American Samoa to live and 
     serve,'' the Congressman concluded.

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