by Sabrina Salas Matanane

Guam - As the Government of Guam faces its current financial crisis, Senator Frank Blas, Jr. is finding other alternatives to bring funds into the Government of Guam. In a letter to Congresswoman Madeleine Bordallo, Blas hoped to discuss the possibility of using amounts owed for Compact impact reimbursements as offsets for payments to the federal government.

He says although the purchase of Fena is a far gone conclusion under the National Defense Authorization Act's provision to use the amounts owed for Compact impact reimbursements, he hopes to use that same language for this new alternative. "This helps free up some of the money we have that we're going to need on the government side again not only to run the operation but basically but help grow the economy," he said.

Blas is optimistic that the aggressive pursuit of this reconciliatory option may result in the utilization of the offsets before the end of the upcoming fiscal year. He says the Calvo Administration is working to provide the congresswoman's office a list of payments made to the federal government that includes both annual and cumulative totals.