Amata Welcomes Final Passage of Government Funding Bill 

Washington, D.C. – Congresswoman Uifa’atali Amata is welcoming Senate passage of the government funding bill that was passed by the House on Tuesday. This legislation funds the government through the end of the fiscal year, September 30, 2025, avoiding a shutdown. 

The Full-Year Continuing Appropriations and Extensions Act, 2025, H.R. 1968, will be sent to President Trump to sign into law, keeping current discretionary spending levels for the next six months, which completes the fiscal year. 

“I’m pleased to see a shutdown avoided,” said Congresswoman Amata. “Federal funding is important to American Samoa, and this action ensures there is no gap in funding and provides certainty. Medicaid support and military pay are two factors that are very important to our people. This year’s historic pay raise for our enlisted Service Members is now appropriated by the Congress for these months.”

This bill appropriates the largest pay increase for junior enlisted Service Members in 40 years, which the Congress had already authorized in the most recent National Defense Authorization Act. It also provides a $500 million boost to WIC, which is federal support through the USDA for Women, Infants and Children. In another key addition, the bill increases funding for air traffic control safety efforts. It boosts Veterans health care by $6 billion to prevent a shortfall, adds $330 million to fund pay raises for wildland firefighters, and bolsters HUD funding by $4.5 billion for low-income families’ assistance. It further boosts Defense funding and invests in shipbuilding, and upholds Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and other critical services.

The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) analysis is that the bill provides $1.6 trillion of total base discretionary spending for the remaining part-year time frame, with $893 billion for defense and $708 billion for nondefense programs, which is above FY 2024 spending for the full year.

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