Uifa’atali Amata
WASHINGTON, D.C. (Office of the American Samoa Congressional Delegate) — The House Natural Resources Committee favorably reported Congresswoman Uifa’atali Amata’s bill, H.R. 6062, by a bipartisan unanimous consent vote on Tuesday, advancing the bill to the full House of Representatives.
“I want to thank my colleagues for supporting the passage of HR 6062 through unanimous consent. Thank you to Chairman Westerman and Chair Hageman for their leadership and thank you to Ranking Member Grijalva and Representative Sablan for making this a bipartisan effort,” said Aumua Amata. “At the hearing conducted on January 18 by the Chair and Ranking Member of our subcommittee with oversight on insular affairs, the American Samoa government established a strong record supporting passage of this bill by the House, and the Senate committee of jurisdiction is aware of the progress we are making.”
“I want to reiterate that this repeal does not limit Congress’s powers in any way. We still have plenary oversight over the Territories, and I thank my colleagues for recognizing that,” Amata concluded. “Rather, this legislation is a strong step forward for territorial and indigenous self-determination and I look forward to continuing to work with all of you on issues affecting American Samoa and the other US Territories.”
The bill restores the ability of the people of American Samoa to more readily approve and implement amendments to the territorial constitution based on democratic self-determination by reducing unnecessary, redundant steps at the federal level.
In addition to Congresswoman Amata, Chairman Bruce Westerman and the Ranking Member present, Congressman Jared Huffman, expressed support for her bill.
A video clip of Amata’s statement is available at https://shorturl.at/efJO1
