Gov. Charles Turnbull and V.I. Delegate to Congress Donna Christian-Christensen met with Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbitt Thursday to discuss the Clinton administration's efforts to assist the Virgin Islands' economic recovery.
"Secretary Babbitt repeatedly stressed, throughout the meeting, the need for both sides — federal and local — to act quickly if we are to be successful in getting Congress to pass legislation to help us this year," Christensen said in a statement released Thursday evening.
"We a have a window of about 40 days or so for the Virgin Islands government and federal government to agree upon the type and amount of federal financial assistance that will be provided to the islands, as well as the type and nature of financial and accountability standards which the V.I. government will have to meet in order to receive such assistance." Christensen said.
Turnbull, Christensen and Babbitt all pledged the full support of their respective staffs to meet the 40-day deadline, according to Christensen's release.
Turnbull also renewed his commitment to Babbitt to do all he could locally to address the territory's fiscal problems, the release said.
Thursday's meeting with Babbitt concludes a week of meetings Turnbull and Christensen have had with members of Congress and Clinton administration officials in Washington, D.C.
