Senate makes amendments to the $22 million supplemental bill

Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — An emotional Senator Utu Sila Poasa could not help shedding tears as he argued that the $15.9 million in the administration’s $22 million Supplemental Bill earmarked for the Governor’s Office special projects should be left out of the supplemental bill and tabled until further review when the Fono reconvenes next year.

The $22 million, which the administration says is the surplus funds from Fiscal Year 2022 was submitted as a supplemental for the Fiscal Year 2024 budget.

“I apologize for being emotional this morning but I feel this is a very important matter and $15.9 million is a lot of money,” said an overwrought Utu.

“I still think that we should move with caution. We have all the time in the world to sit and discuss how best to spend these funds for the benefit of our people. I feel that God has given us this opportunity for us to reflect and decide which direction to guide our government to.”

This was during the joint Conference Committee Thursday morning held in the Senate Chamber to discuss what to do with the administration’s supplemental bill.

The House of Representatives Conference Committee comprising Chairman Vailoata Amituana’i, Vice Speaker Fetui Fetu and Rep. Manumaua Wayne Wilson had met with their counterparts in the Senate, Senators Utu Sila Poasa, Malaepule Saite Moliga and Satele Aliitai Lili’o earlier.

The main point, which the two sides could not agree on, was the spending of the $15.9 million earmarked for Special Programs under the Governor’s Office.

The Senate had removed the $15.9 million from the bill for further review but the House had restored it — and had amended some of the budget items submitted by the administration.

Sen. Malaepule told the House members that the Senate has rejected the changes they made and argued that the Senate’s version of the bill should be approved.

He pointed out that if the Senate had not demanded a detailed list of the breakdown of the $15.9 million, the administration would not have provided the information they had, and the changes would not have happened.

Sen. Utu argued that if they approved the funding now, by the time the Fono reconvenes next year, all the funds would be gone. Therefore, he reasoned that it was better to leave the $15.9 million out of the supplemental bill.

However, Faipule Vailoata Amituana’i, Manumaua Wayne Wilson and Vice Speaker Fetui Fetu, Jr. were determined to present their side of the issue and asked the senators for a chance to explain the changes they had made.

But the senators remained unyielding.

The matter was discussed in the Senate’s regular session and President Tuaolo Manaia Fruean recommended that they make changes of their own. The regular session was then put on hold, as the chamber convened in Conference Committee of the Whole mode.

Sen. Utu again expressed his reservations about the matter and urged members not to rush into approving the spending but to leave the matter until they reconvene.

“It is common knowledge in this chamber that I have close family ties with the governor,” Sen. Utu said. “But I speak with all honesty, I think this is the time that God has given us to make the right decision that will benefit everyone.

“I know we all want what’s best for our constituents, but let’s prioritize the country as a whole.

“Let’s appropriate these funds to what needs to be done to improve the lives of all the people of American Samoa, not just our districts.”

However, Tuaolo argued that this was their chance to make their own changes.

“The governor has given us the chance to have a voice in the spending of the funds by listing our own priorities,” Tuaolo argued.

In the end, the Senate voted to approve the funding for Special Programs but made its own changes:

$1.5 million to publish the American Samoa Code Annotated

$1 million for Fagaima drainage

$1.5 million to purchase furniture for the new Fono building

These changes were funded by the $2 million for the Federal Aviation Administration Park and the $3 million for the Emergency Evacuation Route in Manu’a.

The bill now goes back to the House and if consensus cannot be found will once again end in a Joint Conference Committee for discussion.

SSIC HEARING

An SSIC hearing was held after the session ended, on the Kite Runner vessel that went to Samoa and came back without proper clearances from Pago or Samoa.

The first witness called was the Chief Security Officer of the Port, Chester Manaea. Sen. Togiola, the chair of the SSIC, told him to introduce himself, but was interrupted when the SSIC Legal Counsel Deanna Fuimaono approached Togiola and informed him that members of the media were still in the chamber, as they had covered the regular session.

Sen. Togiola then stopped Manaea, and asked the media to vacate the chamber — as it was a closed SSIC hearing.

Media departed and have not been able to find out what transpired during the hearing.