by Sabrina Salas Matanane, KUAM News Thursday, January 31, 2008 Subscribe to Sabrina's newsfeed   E-mail this article Printable version KUAM Toolbar Web Widgets Get RSS headlines

After all the heated debate between Democrats and Republicans in tonight's session of the 29th Guam Legislature, lawmakers were finally able to stay their dispute temporarily to allow Congresswoman Madeleine Bordallo to give her annual congressional address on the 18th anniversary of the passing of her husband, former governor Ricky Bordallo. Using the umbrella theme of "Building Partnerships", Bordallo talked about the Democratic majority in the House and Senate and her continued efforts for the passage of HR 15-95, the Guam World War II Loyalty Recognition Act.

The congresswoman also gave an update on efforts of her co-sponsored bill HR 30-79, the Northern Marianas Immigration, Security and Labor Act, which includes a number of provisions that impact Guam. The territory would not only be exempt from H-1 and H-2 visa caps but also have a regional visa waiver program extending the length of stay for visitors.

As for the military buildup, Bordallo stressed the strategic importance of the island as well as the need for local and federal officials to prepare and be ready to execute difficult tasks. She announced, "It's very important that we partner and I mentioned one thing that I wanted to get across while we're working with the federal agencies we must develop a memorandum of understanding because the Administration will change eventually because this buildup will not be completed until 2014. So we're going to have to get this in writing, and that's what we'll be working on and it's very successful in this buildup."

Read Congresswoman Bordallo's address by clicking here