More compact aid sought
By Derrick DePledge
Advertiser Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON — Lawmakers from Hawai'i and Guam are proposing a bill that would substantially increase the amount of money the federal government provides to offset the cost of migration from the Federated States of Micronesia and the Marshall Islands, but the Bush administration does not appear ready to budge.
Administration officials have agreed to provide $15 million a year for the next 20 years, to be split among Hawai'i, Guam, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands and American Samoa to absorb the costs of migrant healthcare, education and other social services.
The money, the first time the government has guaranteed a specific payment, is part of a new compact that is being negotiated among the United States, Micronesia and the Marshall Islands.
But Hawai'i and Guam lawmakers will ask to split up to $35 million a year in compact aid, and they want migrants from Micronesia and the Marshall Islands to qualify for Medicaid and food stamps to relieve the financial obligations on state and territorial governments.
At a hearing on the compact yesterday before the House Resources Committee, David Cohen, deputy assistant secretary for insular affairs at the Department of the Interior, said the new compact would focus on improving living conditions in Micronesia and the Marshall Islands to discourage migration in the future.
In an interview later, Cohen described the $15 million in guaranteed compact aid as "groundbreaking."
"It's an unprecedented commitment," he said. "The administration stands by its proposal."
The Interior Department also announced yesterday its opposition to a bill by Madeleine Z. Bordallo, Guam's delegate to Congress, that would allow the government to forgive $157 million in debt from Guam to help offset migration costs.
But department officials suggested that Guam could approach individual federal agencies and make a case for debt relief, given the island's severe financial crisis.
Despite these setbacks, Hawai'i and Guam lawmakers remain optimistic they will be able to amend the compact in Congress or pass separate legislation to better reflect the costs of migration.
"The administration has no basis for the $15 million figure," said U.S. Rep. Ed Case, D-Hawai'i. "They just dragged it out of thin air."
Under the compact, which began in 1986, people from Micronesia and the Marshall Islands are able to travel freely within the United States, and many have pursued jobs or a better standard of living in nearby Hawai'i and Guam.
A report by Gov. Linda Lingle's office estimates that Hawai'i spent $32 million last year on migrants, and has spent more than $140 million since 1997, money the federal government has never fully reimbursed. The report estimates that migrants cost primary and secondary schools $18 million last year, while the state Department of Human Services spent $4.5 million on financial assistance and $6.7 million on medical assistance for migrants.
"People just haven't taken this seriously for years," said U.S. Rep. Neil Abercrombie, D-Hawai'i.
The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee has scheduled a hearing on the compact for Tuesday. U.S. Sen. Daniel Akaka, D-Hawai'i, a member of the committee, is considering amendments.
The U.S. government expects to complete the compact with Micronesia and the Marshall Islands before parts of it expire at the end of September. The compact involves about $3.5 billion in government payments to Micronesia and the Marshall Islands through 2023, with some of the money going into a trust fund that would be used by Micronesia and the Marshall Islands after the compact ends.
