No surprise that our worst fears again are realized. Last January while Congress was furiously working on raising the minimum wage, Faleomavaega was out of town. Result? American Samoa was included!
Did he learn his lesson? Nope. Last week while Congress was furiously negotiating an economic stimulus package that includes a tax rebate for everyone, he was again out of town.
Perhaps he negotiated American Samoa into the package by phone. Apparently not.
He has issued a press release about a letter he has now sent to House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer and others asking them to "clarify" the effect of the bill on the territories. Read clarify to mean "territories forgotten." So, once again he has to play catch up and then if he succeeds he can triumphantly claim he has saved the day--even though he's only cleaning up a mess he himself has made. Reminds me of the guy who was banging his head with a hammer., When asked why he was doing that he replied: "Because it feels so good when I stop."
By the way. Steny Hoyer. Steny Hoyer. Unusual first name. Say, isn't that the fellow who was in American Samoa just a week or so ago as part of a fact finding tour that Eni skipped so he could tour Israel with a bunch of island ambassadors to the U.N.? I think so. Apparently, American Samoa did not leave enough of an impression on him to remember us when it came time for the stimulus package. Perhaps if Faleomavaega had been on that junket instead of looking at desalinization projects in the Middle East we might not have to be playing catch up once again.
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