“I am very pleased and honored to be sworn in again as a member of the U.S. Congress,” Faleomavaega said.  “Again, I thank the people of American Samoa for reelecting me to another term.  I will continue to do my best to represent the interests of our territory in the U.S. Congress.”

       With the Republicans in control, having a majority of 221 members, the House of Representatives reelected the Honorable Dennis J. Hastert, republican from Illinois to a second term as speaker.  On the Senate side, the membership is evenly split at 50-50 between the two major parties.

        “These are truly historic times,” Faleomavaega added.  “Aside from what we observed during the Presidential election, the Senate is evenly split and the House is only a few members difference between the major parties.  We also have a record number of 13 women in the Senate and among those is a first lady.  This makes for a very interesting Congress.”