HAG\u00c5T\u00d1A, Guam\u2014Late Wednesday, Gov. Lou Leon Guerrero presented testimony to the U.S. House Natural Resources Committee on the Biden-Harris Administration\u2019s \u201cBuild Back Better\u201d plan\u2014a comprehensive economic and infrastructure plan for the future\u2014and what it means for Guam and the specific needs of the island\u2019s people and its future development.<\/p>\n
In her appeal to committee chair Rep. Ra\u00fal M. Grijalva and vice chair Delegate Gregorio Kilili Sablan, she expressed support for Biden\u2019s vision of rebuilding communities like Guam \u201cwith infrastructure that creates a foundation for economic growth and equity for the disadvantaged, combats climate change, supports environmental justice, helps lift families out of poverty, and improves the lives of working people.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
In addition to ongoing efforts to protect the health and economic livelihood of Guam and its people, Leon Guerrero spoke to the issues of climate change, environmental justice, and creating a circular economy that manages the island\u2019s waste. She detailed Guam\u2019s Zero Waste Working Group\u2019s efforts and the Guam Green Growth (G3) Initiative. Continuing the theme of state-like treatment, she called for the full Sea Grant status for the University of Guam.<\/p>\n
Leon Guerrero also called for extending Supplemental Security Income eligibility to Guam and called attention to the urgent public health effects of climate change and plans for a new Guam Memorial Hospital. She also argued for establishing a Regional Veterans Affairs office in Guam and further reiterated her intent to apply for a substantially underserved trust area grant to develop Chamorro Land Trust Commission properties.\u00a0<\/p>\n
As part of her economic recovery plan, she called for a reexamination of federal highway funds for territories to support infrastructure redevelopment, state designation treatment for Guam\u2019s Small Business Administration and U.S. Department of Agriculture offices to directly elevate the needs of local small businesses and farmers, and an expedient federal approval process for H-2 workers to support private sector development.<\/p>\n
To view the hearing in its entirety and read Leon Guerrero\u2019s full testimony, visit full committee hearing at https:\/\/naturalresources.house.gov\/hearings\/how-the-biden-administrations-build-back-better-plan-can-benefit-the-us-territories. (PR)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
HAG\u00c5T\u00d1A, Guam\u2014Late Wednesday, Gov. Lou Leon Guerrero presented testimony to the U.S. House Natural Resources…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":28,"featured_media":330356,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[51],"class_list":["post-340958","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-news","tag-guam"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/340958","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/28"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=340958"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/340958\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/330356"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=340958"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=340958"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=340958"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}