Bryan Speaks to U.S. House of Representatives

Gov. Albert Bryan Jr., with Gov. Lou Leon Guerrero of Guam and Lemaro Peleti Mauga of American Samoa, testified before the U.S. House Committee on Natural Resources Wednesday in support of the Interior Department’s 2023 budget proposal.

At the beginning of the hearing, committee chair Gregorio Sablan, a delegate from the Northern Mariana Islands, introduced the governors and said they all face several similar challenges and have lost tourism income over the last few years. He said President Joe Biden will continue to get parts of the Build Back Better plan passed, which will help the territories.

All three governors talked about the needs of their respective communities for federal funding, especially for health care and infrastructure. Guam needs a new hospital and the federal land on which to build it. American Samoa, which escaped the COVID-19 pandemic for months, has a weaker health care system now that they have had to deal with 5,500 cases and 30 deaths.

During his five-minute report, Bryan said the residents of the U.S. Virgin Islands are an “integral part of the United States” but are treated like second-class citizens. He lamented that the territories do not have parity regarding Medicaid funding, and Supplemental Security Income and tax laws make it difficult to compete for investors as a “foreign country” rather than part of the U.S.

The U.S. tax code designates territories in a category similar to that of a foreign country which discourages American companies from investing in the insular islands, Bryan said.

“The U.S. Virgin Islands is neither foreign nor a tax haven. It is a U.S. territory whose tax laws are promulgated by Congress. Treating us like a foreign country makes no sense and is contrary to decades of congressional policies intended to encourage U.S. investment in the territories.”

Bryan also talked about “special challenges” such as the difficulty in accessing disaster relief funding because of “unreasonable” requirements to match funds.

“Significant amounts of appropriated disaster funds remain inaccessible to the territory because of unrealistic local match requirements imposed by federal agencies,” he said.

A big economic problem facing the territory, Bryan said, is the closure of the Limetree Bay Refinery, last year, leaving 800 people without work. He said he hopes the Environmental Protection Agency and U.S. government understand the importance of the refinery to the Virgin Islands and help to reopen it.