U.S. Senate OKs $30 million in Pacific island aid

By Derrick DePledge
Advertiser Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON — Mirroring work done in the House, a Senate committee yesterday backed $30 million annually to help Hawai'i and other Pacific islands with the costs of migration from the Federated States of Micronesia and the Marshall Islands.

While Hawai'i lawmakers do not believe the money approved by the Energy and Natural Resources Committee is enough, it is double the $15 million the Bush administration had proposed spending each year as part of a new 20-year compact with Micronesia and the Marshall Islands.

The money would be divided between Hawai'i, Guam, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands and American Samoa to help cover health, education and other costs associated with migration.

Hawai'i alone spent an estimated $32 million on migrants last year.

The Senate committee also endorsed a provision, backed by the House, that would allow Guam and the Northern Marianas to ask the federal government for debt relief as compensation for migrant costs going back to 1986. Guam already has identified $157 million in debts it would like forgiven.

"It's a good beginning," said Sen. Daniel Akaka, D-Hawai'i, who serves on the committee.

The committee's version of the compact bill now goes to the full Senate. The House version could reach the House floor for a vote next week. Lawmakers are under pressure to approve the compact before the end of September, when economic provisions of an existing compact expire.

Like the House version, the Senate's bill would provide about $3.5 billion a year over 20 years for Micronesia and the Marshall Islands and set up a trust fund for use by the islands once the compact is over. The United States would have extended military rights to Kwajalein Atoll.

The Senate bill would also allow for reimbursement of past medical referral bills at hospitals in Hawai'i and Guam that treated migrants, and would require Department of Defense hospitals to handle migrant medical referrals.

The $30 million in annual aid would be divided between Hawai'i and other Pacific islands based on a census of migrants living in each area. Guam and the Northern Marianas would also be able to appeal to the federal government for debt relief to offset migrant costs since 1986.