Amata Builds Groundwork for Legislative Effort in COFA Hearing
Highlights American Samoa Priorities with Administration
Washington, D.C. – Congresswoman Uifa’atali Amata raised two key priorities for American Samoa in a Thursday hearing with Biden Administration officials to build a foundation for the legislative efforts, which would allow simpler conversion to citizenship for any U.S. National choosing to do so as an individual, and implement a constitutional change that the people of American Samoa voted for and the Fono (Territory Legislature) has called for in a Resolution. As neither proposal is costly to the federal Treasury, Congresswoman Amata is seeking to build bipartisan consensus to advance these efforts.
During a Natural Resources Subcommittee on Indian and Insular Affairs legislative hearing, led by Committee Chairman Bruce Westerman, on the discussion draft of the Compact of Free Association Amendments Act of 2023, Congresswoman Amata tied the issue to American Samoa’s policy objectives. Congresswoman Amata submitted several prepared questions about COFA, and raised these two key topics to Assistant Secretary for Insular and International Affairs Carmen Cantor.
Congresswoman Amata speaking in COFA hearing Thursday
“As Vice Chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee’s Subcommittee on Indo Pacific and as Chair of this Committee’s Bipartisan Task Force on Indo Pacific, I certainly know the COFA agreements we consider today are part of our nation’s strategic relationship with the entire Pacific Island region coveted by our competitors and potential adversaries. American Samoa also is the center of U.S. sovereign homeland interests at the southwestern most border of our nation, strategically located in Central South Pacific. In American Samoa, similarly to the COFA nations, local democratic self-government and self-determination for U.S. nationals and U.S. citizens under American law is modeled for the island nations of the region. In that connection, I want to ask Ambassador Cantor a question: Assistant Secretary Cantor, you have been most considerate and conscientious in our constructive consultations on my proposal to streamline citizenship classification for individual U.S. nationals who owe full allegiance to the U.S. request it for personal reasons, and also the proposal to repeal a 1983 statute changing the process for amending the local constitution, which the U.S. Department of Justice advises may have unintended legal and political effect, and is redundant since Congress retains full powers in the territory without the 1983 statute. I just wanted to ask you today if you can confirm that these proposals, that have no fiscal or legal impact outside our local interests in American Samoa, are understood and not objected to by the Administration?”
In response, Assistant Secretary Cantor assured that American Samoa’s constitutional amendment text is in good order and would accomplish the stated goals, and willingness to provide guidance regarding Congresswoman Amata’s objective to provide simpler conversion to citizenship by individual choice for U.S. Nationals.
Video is available HERE.
COFA Legislation
The House Committee on Natural Resources considered a discussion draft that would approve the recently negotiated Compacts of Free Association (COFAs) and continue America's unequivocal commitment to deterring malign Chinese influence in the region.
“Without undue delay, we can and should exercise oversight and move the agreements forward to passage by the earliest and most expeditious path,” said Congresswoman Amata.
Chairman Westerman prioritized strengthening America's presence in the Indo-Pacific region with the creation of the bipartisan Indo-Pacific Task Force, led by Task Force Chairman Aumua Amata Coleman Radewagen and Co-Chairman Gregorio Kilili Camacho Sablan, conducting oversight on issues facing the U.S. Pacific Territories and the FAS.
Congresswoman Amata also took part in Chairman Westerman’s Congressional Delegation (CODEL) of nine members to the region to see firsthand and hear from local communities, to further understand the threat of the People's Republic of China under the Chinese Communist Party, in which they visited and met with leaders from the three FAS nations. The U.S. has a unique and close relationship with the Republic of Palau, the Federated States of Micronesia and the Republic of the Marshall Islands, all of vital importance to the U.S. given their history, partnership and geostrategic location in the South Pacific.
###