(Washington, DC, November 22, 2004)—Delegate to Congress Donna M. Christensen announced today that the $1.5 million in funding for Virgin Islands hospitals that she announced was included in the Omnibus Appropriations bill was removed from the bill by the U.S. Senate early Sunday morning.

 “It is extremely disappointing that after all the work that went into securing this badly needed funding for hospitals we weren’t able to get the members of the U.S. Senate to agree to the mechanism that was developed to provide our hospitals with the money”, Christensen said.  “We thought we had a deal but at the last minute, the agreement did not hold.”    Christensen also said.

In spite of this setback, Chairman Barton, through his staff, reiterated his commitment to working with the Delegate and her other Territorial colleagues to address the inequities in Medicaid funding for the territories.

“I want to thank former House Government Reform Committee, Chairman Dan Burton as well as, Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Joe Barton and their respective staffs for working with my colleagues Madeleine Bordallo from Guam and Eni Faleomavagea from American Samoa and I to try to get us the money.  The fact that we came this close to securing this additional funding only makes us committed to redoubling our efforts next year.”  Christensen said.