WASHINGTON, D.C.\u2014President Trump signed the 2018 National Defense Authorization Act yesterday, including an extension of the Compact of Free Association with the Republic of Palau. Delegate Gregorio Kilili Camacho Sablan (Ind-MP) has been working for several years to get the 15-year extension enacted into law. It was originally negotiated by the U.S. and Palau in 2010, but never formally approved.<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause of the strategic importance of Palau to the security of all of us in the Western Pacific, I have worked hard to win approval of the extension of the Compact of Free Association,\u201d Sablan said. \u201cPeace and stability are the underpinnings for the economic health of our region. <\/p>\n
\u201cAnd because I am the only Micronesian in the U.S. Congress, I also feel a special responsibility to help people throughout the island Pacific, whenever I can.\u201d<\/p>\n
The annual Defense bill emerged as a route to approval of the Compact in 2016. Sablan had introduced legislation approving the Compact and authorizing multi-year funding. He arranged hearings for his bill before House Foreign Affairs and Natural Resources subcommittees. Then, working with Pacific representatives Madeleine Bordallo (D-Guam) and Tulsi Gabbard (D-Hawai\u2019i), he was able to win the support of the Defense Department for inclusion of the Compact approval in the 2017 Defense bill.<\/p>\n
Although that effort was not successful, Sablan again introduced Compact legislation this year, again got a hearing on the bill, and won approval in the House Natural Resources Committee, which is chaired by Rep. Rob Bishop (R-Utah). Bishop is also a member of the House Armed Services Committee, which writes the annual Defense authorization.<\/p>\n
\u201cFocusing on Compact approval as a matter of strategic importance to the United States was key, I think, to getting it through Congress and signed into law today,\u201d Sablan commented.<\/p>\n
\u201cAlthough Congress has appropriated the funding amounts negotiated with Palau year-after-year, we were not giving Palau the assurance of long-term commitment that approval of the Compact provides.<\/p>\n
\u201cFrom Palau\u2019s point of view\u2014and to other nations in the Pacific region\u2014it seemed as though America was not good for its word. America could not be trusted.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat is no way for our nation to maintain influence in what is becoming every day a more strategically important\u2014and contested\u2014area of the world,\u201d Sablan said. \u201cBut today we showed America is committed to the Pacific.\u201d (PR)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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