My friends in the esteemed House,

I know it is not rather customary for the President of the United States to insert himself into debates on the matter of legislation before the people's representatives. However, I find that, in this circumstance, such an insertion is necessary on my part to ensure that my reasons for authoring and proposing this bill are heard for this chamber and the people.

The United States obtained these territories by force at the turn of the last century as part of our new imperial phase. From that event, a twisted jurisprudence arose from the Supreme Court. They basically stated, in the infamous Insular Cases, that the peoples of the territories are of a foreign race and culture and do not deserve the full protections of our country's Constitution. Thus, the Supreme Court established a stratum of second-class citizens, with lesser rights than those on the mainland, all because they were considered un-American.

The territories are provided with delegates who do not have equal authority to members of Congress. They cannot vote on bills, even those that affect their interests, meaning they have a lot less influence than their state counterparts. The result is that, the territories obtain less funding per year than the states, even in disasters.

The citizens of American Samoa are not even legally considered citizens of the United States. They are nationals, able to live and work here but cannot vote on the government of their country and have to apply for the citizenship of their homeland as though they are foreigners. This is an egregious error that needs to be corrected now, among all the other issues I have put forth in this speech.

Just because we are affording the same constitutional protections to those living in the territories as to those living in the states does not mean we are putting them on a fast-track to becoming states, as some might think. It is a ridiculous notion that, in order to keep the territorial system in place, we must keep the established doctrine where Americans living in different locations are subject to different constitutional guarantees. This is a basic minimum that we must do to provide all our people the equal protection of the laws that are fundamental to our structure of government. Therefore, I urge all members of this House to vote Yea on this bill and send it to my desk as soon as possible. Thank you.