San Nicolas praises administration's vaccine rollout

Congressman Michael San Nicolas is on island cramming in meetings before he has to head out on Sunday. We caught up with the Congressman to talk about his plans while on island and recent controversy in the nation's capital regarding cookies he delivered to Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene.

it's so good to be home, the weather is so beautiful, the sky is so beautiful I mean it's like coming into a dream 1:06

Happy to be home and happy to see the significant strides the island has made in vaccination efforts. Congressman Michael San Nicolas says the recently announced 16 year threshold for the community to join the VacciNation is a new milestone, and he is applauding Adelup.


"I think the administration is doing a phenomenal job getting the vaccines out," he said. "We are doing better than most in the country and that is going to be step number one to getting ourselves open as quickly as possible to be able to reassure our visitors Guam is a safe destination. And so that's an awesome job on behalf of our governor so far. But they are rolling out vaccines across the country as well they have larger population densities and a lot more logistical challenges but based on what we have been able to do here on Guam and how we have been able to increase the age ranges is just phenomenal work all around from the administration all the way to the people on Guam."

He is also hopeful that as the time nears to start rolling out the $661 million in federal assistance, that everyone will have a seat at the table for deliberations.


"I think that with that large sum it's important for our leaders to collaborate, our local legislature our local governor and even our congressional office would be more than interested in sitting down at the table and really throwing ideas back and forth," he said. 

KUAM asked the congressman what he believes should be prioritized moving forward, as he explains the focus should be on long-term results and outcomes for the people of Guam.


"But with the EITC also being resolved and with $660 million also being available we have some real transformative opportunities," he said. "I really think that we need to focus on making sure that the tax refunds that we have been behind on for so many years actually become something that we are able to pay up much, much faster. I think that is something we can absolutely achieve and the governor's proposal for a new hospital is definitely shared by the community."

Another viewpoint the congressman believes is shared by the community is the understanding of his "goodwill gesture" to present Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor-Greene with Chamorro Chip Cookies while accompanied by the National Guam Guard. This gesture was in response to Greene's public mischaracterization of Guam as a foreign country undeserving of federal aid.

As we've reported, Greene was not at her office at the time of the delivery and she never responded to San Nicolas, however she did reach out to the defense secretary and chief of the National Guard to complain about what she stated as a misuse of troops to ambush her office unannounced.

"We are intentionally not seeking to continue to make that become a hot button issue," he said. "The people of Guam I think made it very, very clear what our intentions are and they are all good intentions. So we are hoping that the goodness of those intentions is what is going to shine through in the congress and so far that's what it's looking like right now."