Amata Comments to Commerce Department Urging Full IIJA Access

Statement

Congresswoman Uifa'atali Amata has submitted a public comment to the U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC) regarding Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) programs that are inaccessible to American Samoa and the other territories under inconsistent federal interpretation of the law. Governor Lemanu Mauga, and other territories' governors, raised this concern at last week's IGIA meeting.

"I am writing to submit a comment regarding the unequal access to the Digital Equity and Middle Mile programs for the territories," stated Congresswoman Amata. "The American Samoa Department of Commerce was informed by the federal government that American Samoa is not eligible for these programs because they are not included under the definition of a "state.'

"This is not consistent with the wording of the IIJA itself," Amata emphasized to DOC. "Title IV, Sec. 60401 (12) gives the term "State' the same meaning as given in Section 3 of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 USC 153). This definition explicitly includes American Samoa in addition to the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the other US territories.

"It would be a travesty for these important pieces of legislation to be denied to US territories that are explicitly determined eligible by the terms of the IIJA," she concluded.

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