‘Compact inequities must be fixed’
Although he supports renewing the United States’ treaties with the CNMI’s Micronesian neighbors, Delegate Gregorio Kilili C. Sablan (D-MP) said making some federal programs available to Compact of Free Association citizens but not to CNMI citizens will create some inequity that must be remedied.
“This has to be acknowledged and fixed,” said Sablan in his comments on H. J. Res. 96, the Compact of Free Association Amendment Act of 2023, during the U.S. House of Representatives Natural Resources Committee markup on Wednesday.
Sablan said he cannot explain to the people of the Northern Mariana Islands why Compact of Free Association citizens have access to all these federal programs under the negotiated Compact renewals and the NMI people don’t.
Despite this, Sablan said he supports the negotiated renewals of the Compacts of Free Association with the Federated States of Micronesia, the Republic of Palau, and the Republic of the Marshall Islands because of their importance to national security.
The delegate said there are some provisions in the agreement that must be brought up in terms of programs where COFA (Compact of Free Association) citizens will be eligible and citizens of the American territories are not.
For example, Sablan said, COFA citizens will be eligible for the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program except for those who live in the CNMI. Sablan said the CNMI is the only one in the United States not eligible for TANF.
Also, COFA citizens in Guam will be eligible for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, but not in the CNMI. “They will be eligible for SNAP throughout the country but not in the Northern Mariana Islands,” Sablan said.
He said there is Supplemental Security Income in his district and no other territory has SSI.
Sablan said COFA citizens will be eligible for SSI whether they are in Puerto Rico or in American Samoa or in the CNMI, or Guam.
The delegate said he will support the bill as it is right now, but will continue to work on getting these other issues fixed.
COFA or Freely Associated States citizens are from Palau, the Marshall Islands, and the Federated States of Micronesia (Chuuk, Kosrae, Pohnpei, and Yap).
Sablan told the Natural Resources Committee that the legislation further cements the relationship with the United States and secures the Pacific region.
Sablan also stated in his e-kilili newsletter over the weekend that providing FAS migrants in the U.S. eligibility for TANF and the SNAP is an inequity for the people of the Marianas who are U.S. citizens but are ineligible for these programs.
“Nevertheless, I will continue to work in Congress to obtain equal access to all federal programs for the people I represent,” Sablan said.
He said the legislation for the negotiated Compact renewals moved out of the Natural Resources Committee on Wednesday with a recommendation of passage by the House.
H.J. Resolution 96 provides the three Freely Associated States a total of $7.1 billion in mandatory funding over the next 20 years.
In exchange for this direct economic aid, access to certain federal programs, and the freedom of FAS citizens to live and work in the United States, the nation retains exclusive military access to FAS lands and waters, Sablan said.
Delegate Gregorio Kilili C. Sablan
