| October 10, 2001
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE |
![[United States Congress]](congress.gif) |
| WASHINGTON, D.C.—FOOD STAMP BILL PASSES HOUSE WITH INCREASED FUNDING FOR AMERICAN SAMOA | |
| Congressman Faleomavaega announced
today that the U.S. House of Representatives has passed a bill which contains
an authorization for increased funding for American Samoa’s food stamp
program. The increase is $450,000 for the current year, and $500,000
per year for fiscal years 2003 through 2011.
“I am pleased that the House Agriculture Committee was able to provide for increased funding for our food stamp program. Under the budget rules used by Congress, because our program spends less than $50 million per year, we were not included in the base line budget for the new bill. This means that the first hurdle was to get our program included in the bill, even at the current funding level. Once that was accomplished, I worked with the Members of the Agriculture Committee to redirect money from other programs into ours so we could continue to help those in need in American Samoa, and do so at a higher level,” said Faleomavaega. “The Senate also has to consider the bill, but it is not clear if it will do so before the end of this calendar year. There still have been no appropriations bills enacted into law for the current fiscal year, so all programs, including our food stamp program, are being funded at last year’s levels. The current budget extension runs through October 16th,” concluded Faleomavaega. |
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