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tion 405(b) be stricken and that the words “whereverthe latter phrase
appears.” be inserted in lieu thereof.
SECTION
301
Section 501 would provide for the payment of salary and expenses
of the government comptroller for American Samoa by the Department of the Interior. This Department is already paying such salary
and expenses and thus the Administration has no objection to section
501.
SECIION 601
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Section 602 provides that moneys authorized by this Act but not
appropriated would be authorized for succeeding years. The Administration has no objection to section 602.
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Seection 601 would require the consolidation of all Department of
the Interior grants-in-aid to a territory by making certain optional
provistons of Title V of P.L. 95-134 mandatory. It would also waive
and reyuirements for local matching funds and tor written application
or reports associated with such grants.
The Administration opposes this provision because it believes that
the Department of the Interior should not be singledout in this ranner. The Department has only four programs that provide the type of
grants to the territories that we believe Title V of P.DL. 95-134 was
intended to cover. The grants of two of these programs have already
been consolidated. The Department has under consideration the possibility of consolidating the other two grant-in-aid programs. Further,
the Department of the {Interior has explored the implications of waiving local matching requirements for these grants before deciding to
await the results of the ongoing Interagency Policy Review on
Territories.
It also appears that the provisions of section 601 would applyto the
various forms of financial assistance provided annually to the territories through appropriations to the Department’s Office of Territorial
Affairs. If so, it would be possible for a territory to utilize funds appropriated for the construction of health care facilities for other purposes authorized by grants provided by the Department, such as
historic preservation. ‘The Administration does not believe that this
type of flexibility is in the best interests of the territories or the Federal
Government.
.
SECTION 602
Section 603 provides that governments of the territories and Trust
Territory of the Pacific Islands mayavail themselves of the services,
facilities, and equipment of ugencies and instrumentalities of the
United States Government on 2 reimburseable basis. Federal serv-
” Byron ,
SECTION 609
ices, facilities, and equipment nowextendedto the territories on a non-
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reimbursable basis would continue to require no relmbursement, ‘The
Administration has no objection to section 603.