Leaders react to Bordallo's address

by Sabrina Salas Matanane

Guam - Reacting to Congresswoman Madeleine Bordallo's address last night, Governor Eddie Calvo said she has a long record of standing up for Guam in the House of Representatives. In particular, he plans on working with her to find common ground in Washington to ensure Guam and other territories are treated in the application of Obamacare.

"If there are ways that we can get a waiver, for matching requirements then that opens things up so this is something I'm indeed interested to see what in more detail what the congress lady has," he said.

Republican Senator Michael Limtiaco was particularly interested in the congresswoman's comments about improving the island's economy and how the legislature should take the lead in exploring delinking from the Internal Revenue Code so that Guam can make its own tax decisions that reflect what's best for Guam and not really on mandates meant for the nation as a whole. "Her points on looking at delinking from the internal revenue code in order to determine our own tax code and how that money is spent and specifically she mentioned the earned income tax credit and we are not being reimbursed to cover that and that translates into almost 50% of all our tax refunds," he said.

Majority Leader Rory Respico meanwhile commented on the congresswoman's theme of finding common ground and feels the best way to achieve that is the convening of the Guam First Commission. "I think the congresswoman was able to present how our problems in Guam need to be presented with one voice. That's been a rally theme something I've been trying to do for years so certainly I commend her for the theme she's trying to convey that we have to have some common ground but when it comes to federal territory issues the people of Guam cannot continue to compromise regardless of what the federal constraints may be.  The US Government has to recognize that we have yet to determine our political status and our self determination issues," he said.