Opinion

Just a week and a half after the French Polynesian marae, Taputapuatea on the island of Raiatea, has been awarded UNESCO World Heritage status, another French Polynesian heritage site has edged one step closer to ecological ruin with the arrival of an Australian-based mining company to the island of Makatea. A widely recognised ‘hotspot for biodiversity’, Makatea is a raised coral atoll in the Tuamotu Archipelago which despite being mined for over fifty years during the first half of the twentieth-century is now home to some of the richest avifauna in the region. 

Will raising Gross Receipts Tax from 4.0 percent to 4.75 percent fix Guam Memorial Hospital? It will allow Gov. Eddie Calvo to borrow $125 million to make capital improvements to GMH. Does he really believe that more borrowing will solve the hospital’s problems? Is Calvo mired down by such a deep financial morass that he is willing to borrow in order to keep GovGuam solvent for another 17 months? Is he kicking the can down the road for the next maga'lahi to solve? Last year he borrowed $45 million to bail out GMH but it continues to operate in the RED. With annual shortfalls of $9 million, how far will the new loan go before it needs another bailout?

To prevent a potential economic collapse on Guam and ensure the military buildup can proceed, the federal government needs to revise its policy that denies almost all H-2B temporary worker visas applications on Guam. Last year, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, which is part of the Department of Homeland Security, began rejecting almost all H-2B visa applications because the federal government said Guam businesses have misused the program.

President Trump’s budget proposal would eliminate $3 million in discretionary funds used to offset the financial impact of regional migrants from the Freely Associated States. Rather than cutting support to our community, the federal government should give us more money to provide educational and other services to people from the Freely Associated States.