American Samoa's Governor is lamenting the impact of a minimum five percent reduction to U.S. Department of Interior funding on an already cash strapped Territory.
The U.S. President Barack Obama has announced reductions to all interior funding, known as sequestration, that will see a series of across-the-board cuts to federal agencies, with 85 billion US dollars to be cut from the remainder of this fiscal year's discretionary spending.
A spokesperson for the Governor Lolo Moliga says the cut to their budget would severely impact the government's operation and further exacerbates the territory's deteriorative financial condition caused by the accumulation of unpaid past debts and mounting legal liabilities.
Iulogologo Joseph Pereira says the impact is pervasive as their budget base will continue to shrink, which further reduces federal financial resources to American Samoa along with other Territories and States.
