will
accept.
Territory officials
believe
OTIA
is
too
small
to
argue persuasively the territories' case within Interior and
with OMB.
As a result, the territories frequently submit budget
requests directly to Congress.
The recent 1985 fiscal year budget requests from Guam and
the Virgin Islands illustrate the problem.
Guam submitted a
$211 million request to Interior which OTIA pared down to $2
Million.
However, OMB eliminated the entire request.
Guam subsequently requested $62 million directly from Congress.
The
Congress approved $5.7 million for Guam for fiscal year 1985.
.
In February 1984, the Virgin Islands asked a House Committee for $18 million for fiscal year 1985.
No formal budget
request was submitted to Interior.
The budget director for the
Virgin Island government said there was no reason to involve
Interior in the process because it is ineffective in getting
budget requests through to Congress.
In general,
territory
officials believe their funding needs are not being adequately
addressed by Interior, even though OTIA is usually sympathetic
to
them.
Some
believe
territory
directly to OMB and Congress
_barriers within Interior.
to
budgets
should
eliminate
the
be
submitted
institutional
Some Interior officials acknowledge that constraints exist
in the budget process and that at times the territories receive
low priority.
They said OTIA must compete with other Interior
offices as well as conform to budget targets established by
OMB.
OTIA's budget officer said that territories might be better off if they were part of an independent agency which did not
have to compete with many other offices.
is
Interior officials also point out that part of OTIA's role
to
insure
fiscal
the territories’
accountability
and
therefore
to
scrutinize
budget requests to insure they are legitimate.
OTIA officials acknowledge that conflict exists between an advo-
cacy role and fiscal accountability.
However, they believe that
some of the territories set unrealistic expectations in their
budget requests and then blame Interior for not having them
realized.
The Assistant Secretary for OTIA said territory budg-
ets
should
review
funds.
not
process
be
like
"rubber
those
stamped"
of
any
but
other
should
go
requestor
through
of
a
federal
Advocacy role questioned
tial
Many territory officials believe Interior is not influenenough to adequately represent their interests with the
rest of the federal establishment,
especially in policy~-related
areas
For
matters.
They
outside
believe
its
Interior
jurisdiction.
does
45
not
have
example,
much
Guam
"clout"
in
officials