GUAM - As President Obama prepares to deliver his State of the Union Address from Washington, D.C. early Thursday morning Chamorro Standard Time, Guam News Watch looks back at how the President’s decisions and policies are affecting Guam.

After a little more than a year in office, President Obama has empowered the Department of Defense and the Economic Adjustment Committee to identify and fund Guam needs relative to the military buildup.

He has also supplied more than $63 million in economic Recovery to Guam for infrastructure and programs in the months and years leading to the buildup.

Obama first gained traction on Guam in 2008 when he opened the only election office on island for the presidential primaries. Guam’s Democratic Party delegates eventually cast all five of their votes for Obama.

During his 2008 campaign, Obama promised he’d try to lift Guam’s Medicaid cap. Increased Medicaid funding for Guam is in both the House and Senate versions of the Obama Healthcare Reform initiative.

In 2008, Obama also promised to support war reparations for Guam’s World War II survivors and their families. Although pushed to the 2011 federal budget talks, war reparations has passed committee hearings in Congress and could be on Obama’s desk for signature before the end of this year.

Obama’s White House has appointed two high-level cabinet members with ties to Guam. U.S. Treasurer Rosie Gumataotao Rios is married to Guam son Joe Gumataotao Junior. And Assistant Secretary of the Interior for Insular Affairs Tony Babauta is originally from Guam. Babauta’s tenure at Interior has brought an unprecedented level of attention to Guam’s federal needs at a critical juncture in its relationship with DOD.

In July 2009, Obama recognized that together Guam and the U.S. face threats to national security, a distressed global economy, and an urgent need for a better quality of life. He encouraged strengthening US-island ties to build a more prosperous Guam.

As jobs and healthcare reform divide the nation, so far President Obama’s decisions and policies have been a net positive for Guam.

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