‘We Need to Strike While the Iron Is Hot’

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Congresswoman Aumua Amata has briefed her staff on the legislative priorities she intends to focus on this year, and her plans to promote and ensure new interest in the territory from both leadership in Congress and the private sector.

The freshman congresswoman said, “Being a Member of the House of Representatives, where each term is only for two years, you have to know what your goals are and have a clear plan on how to get them done.”

She says, “I’m proud to say that in just our first year, we have gotten more bills signed into law, than many other current Members who have served multiple terms.
As the second session of the 114th Congress is about to get underway, Aumua says “we have only just begun. There is much left to be done.”

A press release from the congresswoman states that in her first year in Congress, Aumua tackled the minimum wage issue, and obtained a large increase to the territory’s education funding which will begin in 2017.

The congresswoman says she will continue to fight for the fishing industry in American Samoa, and do all she can to undo the many hardships that have been placed upon the local fisherman and the island’s canneries over the last decade.

Another goal is to make the American Samoa Economic Development Tax Credit permanent, in order to persuade more businesses to consider the territory when expanding their operations.

Aumua also spoke about the need to continue pushing American Samoa to the front of the issues that affect it.

She summed up, “Congress is finally beginning to pay attention to the needs of American Samoa. This is a mission that will not be accomplished overnight, and some of the issues that affect our island may take many years to solve, but we must never become complacent. We need to continue to strike while the iron is hot.”

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