A moment of silence and words of praise for the late Congressman Faleomavaega Eni Hunkin marked the opening of the annual IGIA meeting of territorial and federal officials in Washington.
Our Washington D.C. correspondent Matt Kaye reports.
Governor Lolo Moliga was making his way into the IGIA meeting at the Interior Department here, when he stopped to remember American Samoa’s longest-serving Congressman Eni Faleomavaega, who passed this week after a long illness.
Governor Lolo Moliga—
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Office of Insular Affairs Acting Assistant Secretary Nik Pula also spoke ahead of the IGIA meeting, which was closed to the press.
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The Congress is in recess this week, but Congresswoman Aumua Amata Radewagen, who unseated Faleomavaega in 2014, is expected to request a moment of silence and to memorialize the late Congressman on the House floor, as early as next week, when Amata returns from a Congressional delegation trip to the islands.
Others, including Guam Congresswoman Madeleine Bordallo, also offered condolences.
Bordallo worked with Faleomavaega since he was American Samoa’s Lieutenant Governor in the 1980s.
She called him a “true leader who dedicatedhis life to serving and improving his community.”
Governor Lolo is here for IGIA, the winter meeting of the National Governors Association,which meets with President Trump on Monday, and various agency meetings.
Among them, the Federal Reserve, still considering a Territorial Bank of American Samoa routing number key for making direct deposits to checking and savings accounts…
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The bank’s board chair told KHJ News earlier, the Federal Reserve wants to make sure there is minimum local government interference in the bank.
Governor Lolo meantime, says other local issues, like improving healthcare are on hold here, until everyone figures out the Trump Administration’s plans on Obamacare—whether it will be repealed or replaced and how, which may become more clear when the governors meet with President Trump, next week.
