Amata Highlights Committee Efforts, Attends Wreath Laying Ceremony, and Hails Coast Guard Update
Washington, D.C. – Congresswoman Uifa’atali Amata is highlighting the past week’s efforts in the Veterans and Foreign Affairs Committees, including announcement of a successful policy improvement with the Coast Guard.
Coast Guard policy: Responding to legislative efforts by Congresswoman Amata, already part of the Coast Guard Authorization Act currently advancing in Congress, the U.S. Coast Guard has announced a key policy clarification, ensuring that U.S. Nationals from American Samoa are encompassed by the term U.S. Citizen in all matters governing merchant mariner credentialing, vessel manning, and vessel documentation. The Coast Guard supports Amata’s legislative change to ensure the policy is also in the law moving forward to prevent any future issues.
“I greatly appreciate the Coast Guard’s support and prompt action so that no U.S. National from American Samoa could be denied the opportunity to work or be recruited as a merchant mariner or run into unnecessary promotion difficulties,” said Congresswoman Amata. “From time to time, we encounter wording in laws or regulations that need a simple update to be inclusive of U.S. Nationals.”
Typhoon Support: “I join you in praying for the people of Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands who endured Super Typhoon Mawar,” said Aumua Amata. “We will not know the full extent until later, but the people of these islands braved some of their strongest winds and waves in perhaps 20 years, with known power outages and costly unknown damages. The people of American Samoa know all too well the dangers of these types of earth-altering storms, as well as the emotional and physical tolls they exact on families. As a child, my family was posted in the Marianas for a time, and during my university days I lived in Guam. I stand ready to assist my colleagues from Guam and the CNMI — Congressman James Moylan and Congressman Gregorio Kilili Sablan — in advocating for the federal resources that our fellow Pacific Islanders need, and I appreciate the President’s emergency declaration so that assistance can arrive and be distributed as soon as possible. God bless Guam and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.”
Chairman Amata in the Women Veterans Task Force health roundtable
Veterans: On Tuesday, Chairman Amata led the bipartisan Women Veterans Task Force in an information-gathering roundtable session examining how specific issues arise for women veterans. This is the second roundtable this year in the Task Force, and was a discussion of health issues, such as cancer research (including breast, ovarian and cervical), treatments, diagnostics, detection and community care that can improve the lives and health of female veterans.
Also in the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs on Wednesday, Chairman Mike Bost led an oversight hearing to ensure accountability in the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) spending of the COVID supplemental funding they were given by Congress throughout the public health emergency, and how that served veterans.
Finally, the House passed the following three Veterans bills: H.R. 1669, VET-TEC Authorization Act of 2023 (Rep. Juan Ciscomani); S. 777, the Veterans’ Cost-of-Living Adjustment (COLA) Act of 2023 (Sen. Tester/Rep. Luttrell); H.R. 366, the Korean American VALOR Act (Rep. Takano).
25th Annual Women in Military Service Wreath Laying Ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery
Wreath Laying Ceremony: “I was humbled to take part in the 25th Annual Women in Military Service Wreath Laying Ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery,” Amata said. “Each year, Members of the bipartisan Congressional Women’s Caucus honor dedicated individual women Service Members. In doing so, we honor all those serving! It was my privilege to honor Marine First Sergeant Celina Stockton, who has been in patriotic service to our country for 23 years, encompassing deployment to Afghanistan, instructor and planner roles, and taking part in the famed Evening and Sunset Parades at Marine Barracks Washington, D.C.”
Foreign Affairs: This week, Amata took part as the Committee examined Pacific policy to build stronger Defense alliances among the AUKUS member nations and modernizing arms exports with testimony from Assistant Secretary of State Jessica Lewis and Assistant Secretary of Defense for for Strategies, Plans and Capabilities Mara Karlin. Amata focused on engagement with Pacific Island partners in diplomatic and Defense efforts.
She also attended a hearing of the Subcommittee on Global Health, Global Human Rights and International Organizations on an important topic – examining U.S. efforts to bring home abducted children. This hearing was led by Chairman Chris Smith (R-NJ), a longtime champion in Congress of the most pressing global human rights issues.
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