Remarks by Governor John P. de Jongh, Jr. at a Press Conference to Discuss the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act

Government House
February 19, 2009

Good Morning and thank you all for being here today.

As you know, President Obama signed into law on Tuesday landmark legislation that has been designed to jump-start the American economy and refuel our engines of economic growth. 

It was a singular achievement for a new President who has been in office less than a month and it has already given hope to millions of Americans who have been impacted by the worst economic crisis this nation has seen since the Great Depression. 

The $787 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 will also have a tremendous impact here in the Virgin Islands. This legislation will for us, as it does for the States on the mainland, provide a unique opportunity for the Government of the Virgin Islands to help enhance the quality of life for our people.

Under this stimulus bill, the Virgin Islands will receive more than $244 million in economic benefits over a two-year period. This will help us to:

• Enhance the quality of our education and health systems
• Modernize and repair our schools
• Strengthen our law enforcement capabilities
• Provide needed services to the unemployed and those persons who have been hardest hit by the economic storm 
• Improve our transportation infrastructure
• Increase our energy efficiency and cut our utility costs
• And improve our environment

The bill has the potential to provide approximately $67 million in fiscal stabilization funding for our local government. These funds can be used for school modernization and repairs, improvements in our education programs, as well as for other important government services and programs. 

This weekend, I will travel to Washington D.C. to meet with fifty (50) of my fellow State and Territorial Governors where we will discuss, among other things, these fiscal stabilization funds and the additional uses that these relief funds will be able to provide to our Territory.

This stimulus bill also provides tax relief to the working families in the Virgin Islands. The federal government will pay for the cost of a $400 tax credit for individuals and $800 for couples filing jointly. Our working families will get a check from the Virgin Islands Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR), reimbursed by the federal government, even if they earn too little to pay taxes. Retirees in the Virgin Islands who are on Social Security and Veterans who receive Veterans benefits, will receive a bonus check of $250 from the federal government. 

The federal government will increase the amount of Medicaid assistance it provides for the Territory’s recipients by 30 percent. Our food stamp recipients will also be eligible for an increase of over 13 percent. 

Unemployed workers will get extended unemployment insurance, plus an extra $100 a month in benefits. 

We will receive over $30 million to make our energy systems, our homes, our offices, more efficient and less reliant on fossil fuels. 

The Territory will also receive $20 million in transportation funds to immediately commence work on shovel-ready projects, both those already begun as well as those that can commence immediately so we are able to use, and not lose, these funds. I am hoping to use available funding from the mass transit funds to provide shelters for those who today wait for our buses in the sun and rain. 

The Virgin Islands will also receive $10 million to repair and improve our public housing. 

In addition to the areas I have listed, there will be more competitive opportunities for government instrumentalities and our local non-profits to seek additional funding that has been made available through this bill. Commissioner Finch will soon be holding a meeting of our local non-profits to review the opportunities within the bill and I encourage our local organizations to participate.

But, I want to be clear. This bill does not solve all of our problems. The stimulus money will help us in many areas from education to public works but it will not ensure that we meet all of our basic funding needs. 

This bill is the start of something new and something breathtakingly fresh— it is an unprecedented opportunity to reinvest in our economy, our infrastructure and our people. 

I have reached out to our Legislature to ensure that we work together to make sure this stimulus money does the most for the people of the Territory. Only through full participation and cooperation can we achieve this goal. 

But I want to caution all of us: With opportunity comes responsibility. 

In return for the many benefits provided to the Virgin Islands under this bill, the federal government has imposed unprecedented requirements of accountability and transparency, over and above our normal government procedures. This is something that my Administration has advocated and worked towards since I took office, so we welcome these requirements.

All bids, all contracts, all public notices will be required to be posted on a new federal website. The bill establishes a new federal Recovery Accountability and Transparency Board to investigate and prevent waste, fraud and abuse. 

If we do not use our allocated funds in a timely and wise fashion, we will have to return them to Washington for redistribution to other States. To this end, I have set up an office to oversee and distribute the stimulus money. 

This Office of Economic Opportunity will be placed in the Public Finance Authority. The office will ensure that our government meets its responsibilities under the stimulus bill. It will also unite our efforts and resources to continue to build upon one our key policies of “One Government” while we work together towards the challenge of implementing this legislation.

To assist all within the Territory in competing successfully for the additional funding in the bill that will be made available in the coming weeks and months, I invite you to visit our recovery website through which you will be able to learn about opportunities under this bill, track projects and see how we are spending these stimulus monies. This site is also designed to answer your questions about the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 and how the monies will benefit the Territory.

Please remember that we have real work ahead of us, but by working together I am certain that we will weather this storm.

I will now take your questions. 

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