I 
119TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. R. 562 
To advance a comprehensive, long-term United States strategy and policy 
for the Pacific Islands, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JANUARY 20, 2025 
Mr. CASE (for himself, Mr. MOYLAN, Mr. LARSEN of Washington, Ms. TITUS, 
Ms. TOKUDA, Mr. GOTTHEIMER, Mr. KRISHNAMOORTHI, and Mr. SHER-
MAN) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee 
on Foreign Affairs, and in addition to the Committees on Natural Re-
sources, and Ways and Means, for a period to be subsequently deter-
mined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions 
as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 
A BILL 
To advance a comprehensive, long-term United States strat-
egy and policy for the Pacific Islands, and for other 
purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE AND TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
(a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 
‘‘Boosting Long-term U.S. Engagement in the Pacific 
Act’’ or the ‘‘BLUE Pacific Act’’. 
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(b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents for 
this Act is as follows: 
Sec. 1. Short title and table of contents. 
Sec. 2. Definitions. 
Sec. 3. Authority to consolidate reports; form of reports. 
TITLE I—POLITICAL LEADERSHIP AND REGIONALISM 
Sec. 101. Findings. 
Sec. 102. Statement of policy. 
Sec. 103. Strategy for Pacific Islands Partnership. 
Sec. 104. Staffing. 
Sec. 105. Strategic communications in the Pacific Islands. 
Sec. 106. Assistance with international organizations. 
Sec. 107. Allies and partners in the Pacific Islands region. 
Sec. 108. Extension of diplomatic immunities to the Pacific Islands Forum. 
Sec. 109. Ambassador’s Self-Help Small Grants Program. 
Sec. 110. Establishing a senior official for the Compacts of Free Association at 
the Department of State. 
TITLE II—PEOPLE-CENTERED DEVELOPMENT 
Sec. 201. Assistance to improve public health outcomes and build public health 
capacity. 
Sec. 202. Assistance to promote freedom of the press. 
Sec. 203. Indo-Pacific Media Advancement Program. 
Sec. 204. Program to promote educational and professional development for 
young adult leaders and professionals. 
Sec. 205. Education assistance. 
Sec. 206. People-to-people ties. 
Sec. 207. Pacific Islands TRADES Program. 
Sec. 208. Investment agreements. 
Sec. 209. Committee on Engagement with Civil Society Organizations in the 
Pacific Islands. 
Sec. 210. American Spaces in the Pacific Islands. 
TITLE III—PEACE AND SECURITY 
Sec. 301. Building the capacity of local civilian and national security institu-
tions. 
Sec. 302. Reporting. 
Sec. 303. International Law Enforcement Academy. 
TITLE IV—RESOURCE AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT 
Sec. 401. Trade development with the Pacific Islands. 
Sec. 402. Trade capacity building initiative for the Pacific Islands. 
Sec. 403. United States Commercial Service. 
TITLE V—ENVIRONMENTAL AND DISASTER RESILIENCE 
Sec. 501. Assistance to enhance preparedness for and resilience to natural dis-
asters and other emergencies. 
Sec. 502. Climate resilient infrastructure. 
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TITLE VI—OCEAN AND ENVIRONMENT 
Sec. 601. Oceans management. 
Sec. 602. Sea level rise. 
Sec. 603. Illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing. 
TITLE VII—TECHNOLOGY AND CONNECTIVITY 
Sec. 701. Digital access and inclusion. 
Sec. 702. Cybersecurity. 
TITLE VIII—REPORT ON THE STRATEGY FOR PACIFIC ISLANDS 
PARTNERSHIP AND AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS 
Sec. 801. Report on the Strategy for Pacific Islands Partnership. 
Sec. 802. Authorization of appropriations. 
SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 
In this Act: 
(1) APPROPRIATE
CONGRESSIONAL
COMMIT-
TEES.—Except as otherwise provided, the term ‘‘ap-
propriate congressional committees’’ means— 
(A) the Committee on Foreign Affairs and 
the Committee on Appropriations of the House 
of Representatives; and 
(B) the Committee on Foreign Relations 
and the Committee on Appropriations of the 
Senate. 
(2) PACIFIC ISLANDS.—The terms ‘‘Pacific Is-
lands’’ means the Cook Islands, the Republic of Fiji, 
the Republic of Kiribati, the Republic of the Mar-
shall Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia, 
the Republic of Nauru, Niue, the Republic of Palau, 
the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, the 
Independent State of Samoa, the Solomon Islands, 
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the Kingdom of Tonga, Tuvalu, and the Republic of 
Vanuatu. 
SEC. 3. AUTHORITY TO CONSOLIDATE REPORTS; FORM OF 
REPORTS. 
(a) AUTHORITY TO CONSOLIDATE REPORTS.—Any 
reports required to be submitted to the appropriate con-
gressional committees under this Act that are subject to 
deadlines for submission consisting of the same units of 
time may be consolidated into a single report that is sub-
mitted to the appropriate congressional committees pursu-
ant to such deadlines and that contains all information 
required under such reports. 
(b) FORM OF REPORTS.—Each report required to be 
submitted to the appropriate congressional committees 
under this Act and any consolidated report described in 
subsection (a) shall be submitted in unclassified form but 
may contain a classified annex. 
TITLE I—POLITICAL 
LEADERSHIP AND REGIONALISM 
SEC. 101. FINDINGS. 
Congress finds the following: 
(1) The Pacific Islands— 
(A) are home to roughly 12,300,000 resi-
dents; 
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(B) are spread across an expanse of the 
Pacific Ocean equivalent to 15 percent of the 
Earth’s surface, including the three subregions 
of Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia; and 
(C) face shared challenges in development 
that have distinct local contexts, including 
unique environmental challenges and rising sea 
levels, geographic distances from major mar-
kets, and vulnerability to external shocks such 
as natural disasters in both slow and sudden 
onset situations. 
(2) The United States is a Pacific country with 
longstanding ties and shared values and interests 
with the Pacific Islands, including through the Com-
pacts of Free Association with the Freely Associated 
States, the Republic of the Marshall Islands, the 
Federated States of Micronesia, and the Republic of 
Palau. 
(3) The United States has vital national secu-
rity interests in the Pacific Islands, including— 
(A) protecting regional peace and security 
that fully respects the sovereignty of all nations; 
(B) advancing economic prosperity free 
from coercion and unfair practices through 
trade and sustainable development; and 
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(C) supporting democracy, good govern-
ance, the rule of law, and human rights and 
fundamental freedoms. 
(4) Successive United States administrations 
have recognized the importance of the Pacific region, 
including the Pacific Islands, in high-level strategic 
documents, including the following: 
(A) The 2015 National Security Strategy, 
which first declared the rebalance to Asia and 
the Pacific, affirmed the United States as a Pa-
cific nation, and paved the way for subsequent 
United States engagement with the Pacific Is-
lands, including several new policies focused on 
conservation and environmental resilience an-
nounced in September 2016. 
(B) The 2017 National Security Strategy, 
which includes a commitment to ‘‘shore up 
fragile partner states in the Pacific Islands re-
gion to reduce their vulnerability to economic 
fluctuations and natural disasters’’. 
(C) The 2019 Indo-Pacific Strategy Re-
port, which identified the Pacific Islands as 
‘‘critical to U.S. strategy because of our shared 
values, interests, and commitments’’ and com-
mitted the United States to ‘‘building capacity 
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and resilience to address maritime security; Ille-
gal, Unreported, and Unregulated fishing; drug 
trafficking; and resilience to address climate 
change and disaster response’’. 
(D) The 2022 Indo-Pacific Strategy Re-
port, which recognized the need to engage fur-
ther with the Pacific Islands on shared security 
goals. 
(E) The 2022 Strategy for Pacific Island 
Partnership, which outlined goals and methods 
for deepening the United States partnerships 
with Pacific Island nations. 
(F) The 2022 National Security Strategy, 
which identified the Pacific Islands as an area 
of particular focus for expansion of regional 
diplomatic, development, and economic engage-
ment in the broader Indo-Pacific. 
(5) The United States has deepened its diplo-
matic engagement with the Pacific Islands through 
several recent initiatives, including— 
(A) the Pacific Pledge, which provided an 
additional 
$100,000,000 
in 
2019 
and 
$200,000,000 in 2020, in addition to the for-
eign assistance that the United States provided 
annually to the region, to support shared prior-
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ities in economic and human development, envi-
ronmental resilience, and more; 
(B) the Small and Less Populous Island 
Economies (SALPIE) Initiative launched in 
March 2021 to strengthen United States col-
laboration with island countries and territories, 
including in the Pacific Islands, on COVID–19 
economic challenges, long-term economic devel-
opment, climate change, and other shared inter-
ests; 
(C) the declaration on U.S.-Pacific Part-
nership of 2022 in which the United States and 
the Pacific Islands resolved to strengthen their 
partnership, bolstering Pacific regionalism; 
(D) the Partners in the Blue Pacific Initia-
tive, a new initiative, to increase diplomatic en-
gagement and coordination in the region; 
(E) the establishment of a U.S.-Pacific Is-
lands Summit held in Washington, DC in 2022 
and 2023; and 
(F) the increase in the total amount of 
United States foreign assistance provided to the 
Pacific Islands, from $302,500,000 in fiscal 
year 2022 to $466,100,000 in fiscal year 2023. 
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(6) The Boe Declaration on Regional Security, 
adopted in 2018 by leaders of the Pacific Islands 
Forum, the central multilateral organization of the 
Pacific Islands and partners, affirmed that climate 
change ‘‘remains the single greatest threat to the 
livelihoods, security, and well-being of the peoples of 
the Pacific’’ and asserted ‘‘the sovereign right of 
every Member to conduct its national affairs free of 
external interference and coercion’’. 
(7) The Asian Development Bank has estimated 
that the Pacific Islands region requires upwards of 
$2,800,000,000 a year in investment through 2030, 
in addition to $300,000,000 a year for climate miti-
gation and adaptation over the same period. 
(8) Since 1966, thousands of Peace Corps vol-
unteers have proudly served in the Pacific Islands, 
building strong people-to-people relationships and 
partnerships demonstrating the United States com-
mitment to peace and sustainable development in the 
region, including supporting education, health, and 
economic development initiatives. Since having to 
suspend operations during the COVID–19 pandemic, 
the Peace Corps has reopened its posts in Fiji, 
Tonga, Samoa, and Vanuatu and has signed a 
Memorandum of Understanding with Palau regard-
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ing its intent to reopen that post by the end of 
2025. Peace Corps volunteers continue to be in high 
demand in the Pacific Islands and have been re-
quested across the region. 
SEC. 102. STATEMENT OF POLICY. 
It is the policy of the United States— 
(1) to articulate and commit to a comprehen-
sive, multifaceted, and principled United States pol-
icy in the Pacific Islands that— 
(A) promotes peace, security, and pros-
perity for all countries through a rules-based 
regional order that respects the sovereignty, 
self-determination, and political independence of 
all nations; 
(B) preserves the Pacific Ocean as an open 
and vibrant corridor for international maritime 
trade and promotes trade and sustainable devel-
opment that supports inclusive economic growth 
and autonomy for all nations and addresses so-
cioeconomic and environmental challenges re-
lated to public health, education, renewable en-
ergy, digital connectivity, and more; 
(C) supports regional efforts to strengthen 
resilience to natural disasters and through re-
sponsible stewardship of natural resources and 
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