19–006
108TH CONGRESS 
REPORT 
" 
! 
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
1st Session 
108–119
INCREASING THE WAIVER REQUIREMENT FOR CERTAIN LOCAL MATCH-
ING REQUIREMENTS FOR GRANTS PROVIDED TO AMERICAN SAMOA, 
GUAM, THE VIRGIN ISLANDS, OR THE COMMONWEALTH OF THE NORTH-
ERN MARIANA ISLANDS, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES
MAY 20, 2003.—Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the State of 
the Union and ordered to be printed 
Mr. POMBO, from the Committee on Resources, 
submitted the following 
R E P O R T 
[To accompany H.R. 1189] 
[Including cost estimate of the Congressional Budget Office]
The Committee on Resources, to whom was referred the bill 
(H.R. 1189) to increase the waiver requirement for certain local 
matching requirements for grants provided to American Samoa, 
Guam, the Virgin Islands, or the Commonwealth of the Northern 
Mariana Islands, and for other purposes, having considered the 
same, report favorably thereon without amendment and rec-
ommend that the bill do pass. 
PURPOSE OF THE BILL 
The purpose of H.R. 1189 is to increase the waiver for certain 
local matching requirements for grants provided to American 
Samoa, Guam, the Virgin Islands, and the Commonwealth of the 
Northern Mariana Islands, and for other purposes. 
BACKGROUND AND NEED FOR LEGISLATION 
Federal law currently allows federal departments or agencies to 
waive the first $200,000 matching requirement for grants to the 
U.S. Territories of American Samoa, Guam, the Virgin Islands, and 
the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI). The 
waiver of a matching requirement was first enacted in 1980 (Public 
Law 96–205) because accessing federal grants was difficult for ter-
ritorial governments. At the time, the waiver was set at $100,000 
and was extended only to American Samoa and the CNMI. Later 
amendments in 1983 and 1984 to the underlying law increased the 
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waived amount to $200,000 (Public Law 98–213, Sec. 6) and added 
Guam and the Virgin Islands (Public Law 98–454, title VI, Sec. 
601(b)). 
While territorial economies have improved over the last several 
years, each government continues to be challenged with rising un-
employment, decreased government revenues, and limited new cap-
ital for diversification. H.R. 1189 will help broaden U.S. territories’ 
access to federal grants by raising to $500,000 the floor for requir-
ing matching funds from territorial governments. Specifically, for a 
grant requiring matching funds of $500,000 or less, the legislation 
waives the entire amount. For a grant requiring matching funds of 
more than $500,000, the legislation waives the first $500,000 of the 
matching requirement. 
H.R. 1189 also seeks to end the inconsistent manner in which 
current law is applied by clarifying that the matching waiver ap-
plies to all federal agencies and departments making grants to the 
U.S. Territories, not just the Department of the Interior. The Com-
mittee recognizes the authority of any federal agency or depart-
ment to consolidate any or all grants to American Samoa, Guam, 
the Virgin Islands, or the CNMI (48 U.S.C. Sec. 1469(a)). However, 
the Committee believes that the exercise of this authority by any 
federal agency or department shall not be employed in order to re-
duce the number of grants that would otherwise be subject to the 
matching waiver requirement increased by this legislation. 
Finally, the legislation directs the Secretary of the Interior to 
complete and submit to the House Committee on Resources and the 
Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources the results of 
a study of the implementation of the changes to the matching re-
quirement made through the legislation. 
COMMITTEE ACTION 
H.R. 1189, which was introduced on March 11, 2003 by Delegate 
Eni Faleomavaega (D–AS), is similar to legislation introduced by 
Delegate Robert Underwood (D–GU) that was reported out of the 
Committee on Resources during the 107th Congress. H.R. 1189 was 
referred to the Committee on Resources. On May 7, 2003, the Full 
Resources Committee met to consider the bill. The bill was ordered 
favorably reported to the House, without amendment, by voice vote. 
COMMITTEE OVERSIGHT FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 
Regarding clause 2(b)(1) of rule X and clause 3(c)(1) of rule XIII 
of the Rules of the House of Representatives, the Committee on Re-
sources’ oversight findings and recommendations are reflected in 
the body of this report. 
CONSTITUTIONAL AUTHORITY STATEMENT 
Article IV, section 3 of the Constitution of the United States 
grants Congress the authority to enact this bill. 
COMPLIANCE WITH HOUSE RULE XIII 
1. Cost of Legislation. Clause 3(d)(2) of rule XIII of the Rules of 
the House of Representatives requires an estimate and a compari-
son by the Committee of the costs which would be incurred in car-
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3
rying out this bill. The Committee on Resources believes that en-
actment of this bill will not have a significant effect on the federal 
budget. 
2. Congressional Budget Act. As required by clause 3(c)(2) of rule 
XIII of the Rules of the House of Representatives and section 
308(a) of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974, this bill does not 
contain any new budget authority, credit authority, or an increase 
or decrease in revenues or tax expenditures. According to the Con-
gressional Budget Office, enacting this bill will increase direct 
spending by $2 million annually. 
3. General Performance Goals and Objectives. This bill does not 
authorize funding and therefore, clause 3(c)(4) of rule XIII of the 
Rules of the House of Representatives does not apply. 
4. Congressional Budget Office Cost Estimate. Under clause 
3(c)(3) of rule XIII of the Rules of the House of Representatives and 
section 403 of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974, the Com-
mittee has received the following cost estimate for this bill from the 
Director of the Congressional Budget Office:
U.S. CONGRESS, 
CONGRESSIONAL BUDGET OFFICE, 
Washington, DC, May 14, 2002. 
Hon. RICHARD W. POMBO, 
Chairman, Committee on Resources, 
House of Representatives, Washington, DC. 
DEAR MR. CHAIRMAN: The Congressional Budget Office has pre-
pared the enclosed cost estimate for H.R. 1189, a bill to increase 
the waiver requirement for certain local matching requirements for 
grants provided to American Samoa, Guam, the Virgin Islands, or 
the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, and for other 
purposes. 
If you wish further details on this estimate, we will be pleased 
to provide them. The CBO staff contact is Matthew Pickford. 
Sincerely, 
BARRY B. ANDERSON 
(For Douglas Holtz-Eakin, Director). 
Enclosure. 
H.R. 1189—A bill to increase the waiver requirement for certain 
local matching requirements for grants provided to American 
Samoa, Guam, the Virgin Islands, or the Commonwealth of the 
Northern Mariana Islands, and for other purposes 
Under current law, federal agencies are allowed to waive the re-
quirement for the first $200,000 of local matching funds for federal 
grants to the territories of American Samoa, Guam, the Virgin Is-
lands, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. 
H.R. 1189 would increase that waiver from $200,000 to $500,000. 
CBO estimates that enacting H.R. 1189 would increase direct 
spending by $2 million annually. The territories would be allowed 
to spend less of their own funds for several mandatory programs 
including the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, Medicaid, 
Food Stamp, and Child Support Enforcement (CSE) programs. Fed-
eral contributions to the territories are capped for most programs, 
so federal spending would generally remain unchanged. However, 
funding for the territories is not capped for administrative costs in 
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the Food Stamp and CSE programs. We estimate that federal 
spending would increase by about $1 million a year for each of the 
programs. Guam and the Virgin Islands participate in those pro-
grams. 
Under H.R. 1189, each territory’s contribution would be reduced 
by $300,000 in each of the Food Stamps and CSE programs, and 
the federal payment to the territory would be increased by that 
amount. In addition, CBO expects that the territories would use 
some of the waived amounts to draw down additional federal 
matching funds in those programs. In total, assuming an enact-
ment date of October 1, 2003, CBO estimates that federal spending 
for those progams would increase by about $2 million annually, be-
ginning in fiscal year 2004. 
CBO estimates that increasing the local matching fund waiver 
would not have a significant effect on the value of grants awarded 
that are subject to appropriation. 
H.R. 1189 contains no intergovernmental or private-sector man-
dates as defined in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act and would 
impose no costs on state, local, or tribal governments. Enacting this 
legislation would benefit the affected territories. 
The CBO staff contacts for this estimate are Matthew Pickford, 
Kathleen FitzGerald, and Sheila Dacey. This estimate was ap-
proved by Peter H. Fontaine, Deputy Assistant Director for Budget 
Analysis. 
COMPLIANCE WITH PUBLIC LAW 104–4 
This bill contains no unfunded mandates. 
PREEMPTION OF STATE, LOCAL OR TRIBAL LAW 
This bill is not intended to preempt any State, local or tribal law.
CHANGES IN EXISTING LAW MADE BY THE BILL, AS REPORTED 
In compliance with clause 3(e) of rule XIII of the Rules of the 
House of Representatives, changes in existing law made by the bill, 
as reported, are shown as follows (existing law proposed to be omit-
ted is enclosed in black brackets, new matter is printed in italic, 
existing law in which no change is proposed is shown in roman): 
ACT OF OCTOBER 15, 1977
(Public Law 95–134) 
AN ACT To authorize certain appropriations for the territories of the United States, 
to amend certain Acts relating thereto, and for other purposes. 
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TITLE V 
SEC. 501. In order to minimize the burden caused by existing ap-
plication and reporting procedures for certain grant-in-aid pro-
grams available to the Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, the 
Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands, and the Government of the 
Northern Mariana Islands (hereafter referred to as ‘‘Insular 
Areas’’) it is hereby declared to be the policy of the Congress, not-
withstanding any provision of law to the contrary, that: 
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(a) * * *
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(d) Each department or agency making grant-in-aid shall, by reg-
ulations published in the Federal Register, provide the method by 
which any Insular Area may submit (i) a single application for a 
consolidated grant for any fiscal year period, but not more than one 
such application for a consolidated grant shall be required by any 
department or agency unless notice of such requirement is trans-
mitted to the appropriate committees of the United States Con-
gress together with a complete explanation of the necessity for re-
quiring such additional applications and (ii) a single report to such 
department or agency with respect to each such consolidated grant: 
Provided, That nothing in this paragraph shall preclude such de-
partment or agency from providing adequate procedures for ac-
counting, auditing, evaluating, and reviewing any programs or ac-
tivities receiving benefits from any consolidated grant. The admin-
istering authority of any department or agency, in its discretion, 
may (i) waive any requirement for matching funds otherwise re-
quired øby law¿ to be provided by the Insular Area involved and 
(ii) waive the requirement that any Insular Area submit an appli-
cation or report in writing with respect to any consolidated grant.
(e) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, in the case of 
American Samoa, Guam, the Virgin Islands, and the Northern 
Mariana Islands, each department or agency of the United States 
shall waive any requirement for local matching funds (including in-
kind contributions) that the insular area would otherwise be re-
quired to provide for any grant as follows: 
(1) For a grant requiring matching funds (including in-kind 
contributions) of $500,000 or less, the entire matching require-
ment shall be waived. 
(2) For a grant requiring matching funds (including in-kind 
contributions) of more than $500,000, $500,000 of the matching 
requirement shall be waived.
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ACT OF MARCH 12, 1980
(Public Law 96–205) 
AN ACT To authorize appropriations for certain insular areas of the United States, 
and for other purposes. 
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TITLE VI—MISCELLANEOUS 
SEC. 601. Title V of the Act of October 15, 1977, entitled ‘‘An Act 
to authorize certain appropriations for the territories of the United 
States, to amend certain Acts relating thereto, and for other pur-
poses’’ (91 Stat. 1159) shall be applied with respect to the Depart-
ment of the Interior by substituting ‘‘shall’’ for ‘‘may’’ in the last 
sentence of subsection (d)ø, and adding the following sentence at 
the end of subsection (d): ‘‘Notwithstanding any other provision of 
law, in the case of American Samoa and the Nothern Mariana Is-
lands any department or agency shall waive any requirement for 
local matching funds under $200,000 (including in-kind contribu-
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tions) required by law to be provided by American Samoa or the 
Northern Mariana Islands.’’¿. 
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Æ
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