Mark Souder: “Mr. Speaker, I wanted to close, as someone who comes from the heartland of the United States, I know many of my…”

“Mr. Speaker, I wanted to close, as someone who comes from the heartland of the United States, I know many of my constituents and others say, ``We still have territories?'' And then, ``Why are we doing grants to these territories?'' As my friend, the gentleman from American Samoa (Mr. Faleomavaega) has just pointed out, when you go through our Armed Services anywhere around the world, they are among the most active and volunteering for our militaries in these different territories, the bases that we have in these places, the beautiful natural resources, are very important to our survival as a country. They pay taxes. They support our Nation. This brings equity to them in the grant structure. And we can, in this time of international pressure, all of a sudden appreciate more American Samoa, Hawaii, Mariana Islands, Guam, are right out there where we need them to be. And we are very supportive of these territories. This bill goes a long way towards saying thank you.”