Posted on: Monday, September 8, 2003

EDITORIAL
Islander impact aid welcome, still short

Thankfully, the U.S. House Resources Committee has doubled the money the Bush administration offered to pay Hawai'i, Guam, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands and American Samoa to offset the costs of migration from the former trust territories of Micronesia and the Marshall Islands. It has voted to pay out $30 million annually for 20 years.

That's still a paltry sum when you consider it has to be split four ways and that Micronesians and Marshallese immigrants seeking jobs, education and healthcare in Hawai'i alone last year cost the state $32 million.

Still, under a new compact of free association, which is still evolving, Micronesia and the Marshall Islands are expected to receive $3.5 billion through 2023 to hopefully build infrastructure and improve living conditions so that these islanders won't have to move to Guam or Hawai'i.

In return, the United States would retain military defense rights, including access to Kwajalein Atoll. As Kasio Mida, the consul general of the Federated States of Micronesia, points out, the U.S. can deny any third country from entering the islands and establishing influence under its rights of "perpetual denial" and may also veto any diplomatic initiatives if they conflict with its defense responsibility.

The compact seems a fair exchange when you consider the strategic advantages and other benefits the U.S. enjoys in the Pacific. But that doesn't change the fact that the agreement has been a burden on Hawai'i. A 2001 report from the General Accounting Office found that 59 percent of compact islanders in Hawai'i live in poverty and are making use of social services.

And so, again, we endorse Rep. Ed Case's proposal that struggling compact islanders become eligible for Medicaid, food stamps, Head Start and other federal benefits.