Amata Welcomes OIA Testing Grant, Congress Funding Expanded Testing
Washington, D.C. — Thursday, Congresswoman Aumua Amata welcomes notice of an Office of Insular Affairs grant for COVID-19 testing equipment, and said the $2 trillion CARES Act contains expanded national funding for testing to make it widely available and speed up the distribution as part of $1.5 billion to CDC.
Congresswoman Amata and Interior Secretary David Bernhardt
"This is welcome news from Interior and OIA," said Aumua Amata. "Our islands need testing just as soon as possible, and our medical professionals are up to the task. Thank you to Secretary David Bernhardt and Assistant Secretary Doug Domenech and congratulations to Governor Lolo. Congress is making testing a major priority in this week's CARES Act, and also funded testing in earlier coronavirus response legislation this month."
In a letter from Assistant Secretary Domenech, OIA has announced the awarding of $858,924 in Technical Assistance Program funding for the Emergency Bulk Procurement of GeneXpert COVID-19 Testing Kits and Machine for the U.S. territories of American Samoa, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands and Guam, as well as the freely associated states of the Federated States of Micronesia, the Republic of Marshall Islands, and the Republic of Palau.
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