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Amata emphasizes LBJ Hospital needs to Interior Secretary Haaland

Congresswoman Amata with Secretary Haaland
Source: Congresswoman Uifaatali Amata's Office

Washington, D.C. — Congresswoman Uifa’atali Amata drew attention to LBJ in a Wednesday hearing of the full Natural Resources Committee in which Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland was testifying.

Amata once again pressed the message that LBJ Tropical Medical Center has major modernization needs as documented in a study by the Army Corps of Engineers. The oversight hearing was titled, Examining the Department of the Interior’s Spending Priorities and the President’s Fiscal Year Budget 2022 Proposal.

 “I focus attention on LBJ Tropical Medical Center whenever possible in speaking with those in Washington such as Secretary Haaland who could play a role in getting us another step forward in that important project,” said Congresswoman Amata. “I appreciate that the DOI is not attempting to cut the Territory’s operations budget of over $24 million after our several successful increases through congressional action in recent years, in which we finally ended decades of no increases.”

The Committee examined various facets of the Department’s $27.4 nationwide budget plan, an increase of 2.2 percent, with the final amount ultimately to be set by legislation.

In her speaking time, Amata said, “The recent pandemic has highlighted weaknesses in our health infrastructure, and I have a request with Appropriations to not just maintain funding, but to increase the account for development and planning for a desperately needed new hospital. At an Indigenous People’s Subcommittee hearing last week we received testimony from several witnesses including Chairman Ned Norris of the Tohono O’odham Nation about the state of their healthcare infrastructure and their descriptions could just as easily apply to the territories as to Indian country. Madame Secretary, I sincerely appreciate your dedication to Indian and Insular healthcare issues, and I’ll continue to rely on you to help address this problem. Both Congress and the Administration need to approach this from both sides, and I look forward to working with you.”