Amata says U.S. House passes bill to improve housing benefits and strengthen employment opportunities for American Samoa veterans
November 11, 2005

Saturday, November 11,2005

Reprinted from Samoa News

PAGO PAGO, AMERICAN SAMOA. Aumua Amata was informed Thursday November 9 by the U.S. House Republican Conference that the House on Thursday passed a bill to improve housing assistance and strengthen employment opportunities for military veterans. The bill also authorizes a pilot program for specially adaptive housing assistance to certain severely disabled veterans living temporarily in housing owned by a family member.

The U.S. Veterans Administration will now be able to also award up to three grants, per eligible disabled veteran, within the allotted maximum amounts for veterans with impairment of locomotion or multiple extremities or with visual impairments or loss of use of both hands.

"Not long ago, a U.S. military veteran came to me with a unique problem which he has tried for years to get solved, working through the normal channels," said Amata. "He has lived here in American Samoa for over 25 years and is married to a Samoan woman but he himself is not Samoan. Like any other American military veteran, he should be able to apply for a housing loan just on that basis, but because American Samoa comes under the Native American Veteran Housing Loan Program, this man could not qualify."

"This veteran is sort of caught between two worlds because he'd be eligible if he lived in the States; however he's resident in American Samoa but because he's not Samoan, it precludes him from qualifying," said Amata. "This new bill extends the eligibility for the Native American Veteran Housing Loan Program to certain non-Native American veterans in special cases so perhaps he might be able to eventually qualify under the new criteria." Amata said the bill also expands the duties of the Assistant Secretary of Labor for Veterans' Employment and Training to raise awareness of the skills and the benefits of hiring veterans and to reflect the emphasis on outreach to employers, which, for veterans she said, is all good.

Yesterday was Veterans Day and Amata said, "We live in freedom because of our military veterans' courage, commitment to duty and love of homeland and country. And on Veterans Day, we honor these brave women and men who have served in our Armed Forces and defended the United States and her Territories and made the world more secure. We thank all veterans, especially our Samoan sons and daughters, for showing us that freedom is the most powerful force on earth and let us never ever forget them."