Posted on: Wednesday, October 1, 2003
Congress misses deadline to OK aid for Micronesia, Marshalls
Associated Press
Federal financing for two tiny Pacific island states expired yesterday as lawmakers on Capitol Hill failed to meet a deadline for extending partnership agreements between the United States and their governments.
However, federal lawmakers, including U.S. Rep. Neil Abercrombie, D-Hawai'i, have said they will take whatever legislative steps are necessary to ensure that U.S. aid for the Federated States of Micronesia and the Republic of the Marshall Islands continues as it has for the past 17 years.
Legislation renewing the partnership agreements, known as the Compacts of Free Association, is expected to be taken up again by the U.S. House within the next two weeks, said Abercrombie spokesman Mike Slackman.
The Micronesian and Marshallese governments have received assurances that the Senate will take up the matter soon after the House complete work on the bill, officials there have said.
Since 1986, when the governments first entered into the compacts, the United States has contributed an estimated $2.6 billion to the two island states. In exchange, the United States receives defense rights to their waterways and land, including Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshalls as the site of a key missile defense testing range.
Financial terms of the compacts expired yesterday.
New compacts would authorize the United States to provide $3.5 billion over the next 20 years with the goal of ultimately weaning the islands from U.S. aid.
Final approval of the compacts in the U.S. House was stalled last week because of concerns related to so-called "impact aid" earmarked for Hawai'i, Guam, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands and American Samoa — areas which say they are most affected by another provision of the compacts that grants Micronesian and Marshallese free migration to U.S. soil.
Earlier this month, the House Resources Committee amended the bill to double the amount of impact aid for affected jurisdictions to $30 million to offset the costs of providing health care, education and other social services for such immigrants.
The amendment caused the compact package to exceed what was allocated to the House International Affairs Committee, which has primary jurisdiction of the bill, officials said.
After Congress gives its approval, the Micronesian and the Marshallese governments must then follow suit before the compacts can be fully implemented.
Micronesia and the Marshall Islands are about 2,500 miles southwest of Hawai'i.
