SAMOA POST: Aumua Amata weighs in on fifty-cent increase issue

Sept 29 Pago Pago.  Local community leader Aumua Amata today revealed that she made contact with Capitol Hill to check on the status of the fifty cent increase escalator clause for American Samoa and to seek support to delay  the increase scheduled to go into effect tomorrow.

Amata said, "I commend U.S. Senator Jim DeMint of South Carolina whom I know well from the days when he was a member of the U.S. House of Representatives and I was a Congressional staff member working for House Republican Conference Chairman Rep. J.C. Watts of Oklahoma.  Jim's effort to help American Samoa and the Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas Islands out of their dilemma by delaying the fifty-cent increase imposed on us by the United States Congress is evidence of the kind of compassionate man he is and we appreciate him.  However, this still does not address the fact that the majority party in 2007 voted unanimously for this."  

Aumua concluded by saying, "This is only a temporary band-aid and slowing it down is not the same as eliminating it altogether.  This is why it is important for American Samoa to have clear full-time representation in Washington.  Our business community still must face the decision to hire new workers in a struggling economy knowing the fifty cent increase eventually will have to be passed unless a change is made in the law." -30-