On the recordApril 13, 2015
The people of the Northern Mariana Islands deserve the same protections of federal law as other Americans. Making sure my people get equal treatment is one of the reasons I came to Congress and equivalent treatment brings me to the floor today in support of H.R. 1367. As we have heard, H.R. 1367 extends the protections of the Expedited Funds Availability Act to the people of the Northern Marianas and American Samoa. This would mean that account holders in the Northern Marianas and American Samoa would have timely access to their money when they deposit a check in their bank. The same banking rules would apply in the Northern Marianas and American Samoa as apply in Alaska, Hawai'i, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands--the areas of our nation not directly connected to the contiguous forty-eight states. It may be that in 1987, when the Expedited Funds Availability Act was first adopted, the Northern Marianas and American Samoa seemed remote from the rest of America. Back then, paper checks may have been bundled up and sent through the mail. So delays were inevitable. But today banking is handled electronically. With a smart phone many banking customers can take a picture of a check and deposit it in their account without even going to the bank. I have checked with the major banks in my district; none has any problem with having this federal law apply to their operations--because they all do business electronically and make deposits quickly available.…
