Date: 1994-06-23
Speaker: DE LUGO (democrat)
Chamber: H

Mr. Chairman. I rse in support of the bill. As chairman of the authorizingsubcommittee -with general jurisdiction over matters conceming the U.S. insular areas--including the smaller areas which receive special assistance through the Interior Department. I want tocommend my friend and distinguished colleague. the chairmen of the Interior Subcommittee. -SIDNEY YATES. for his masterful work in puttingthis bill together. . In particular. I want -to express my appreciation for his cooperation and sensitivity on several insular matters. especially a few which involved both authorizing and appropriating committee responsibilities. One of these matters is the epidemic of vio. lent crime which in the territory that I am privileged to represent. the Virgin Islands. It has .become so serious that it justifies special assistance. Much of it is due to the trafficking of illicit drugs from the outside through and in our is. lands. The brutality of some crimes has imperiled our tourismbased economy. But. more importantly. violent crime rates which are far above the national average have substantially worsened the quality of life of every Virgin Islander. Our Governor. Alexander Farrelly.. was realistic enough to recognize that Federal resources are needed to help protect what in other ways is Americas tropical paradise both for its people and our million visitors from the States each year. Mr. Chairman. I am particularly pleased to see that H.R. 4602 includes funding for Guam and the Commonwealth of the Northern Marana Islands to partially offset the costs that have been incurred by these two insular areas since implementation of the Compact of Free Association With the Micronesian States.The Compact permits Micronesians open entry into the United States and insular areas. The law which actually defines the relationship. Public Law 99239. included an amendment. which I and others authored. which authorized appropriations to cover the cost imposed on the educational and other social systems of- insular governments by Compact migration. . The executive branch is supposed to calculate these costs and recommend appropriate reimbursement.. but the Interior Departments territories office. OTIA. has consistently tried to avoid the esponsibllity -to pay for the costs by saying that it didntknow what the cost were. It also has tried to pass off the responsibility to calculate the costs to the insular governments involvedand then disputed insular estimates. The gentleman from Illinois has moved to end this ruse by rejecting funds for more studying of the matterand proposing the funding that the law actually intends: To reimburse the insular governments. I also want to note the role of the Delegate from Guam. ROBERT A. UNDERWOOD. in getting us to this point. The bill also includes another reimbursement intended by Congress in establishing free association with the Marshall Islands through another provision that some of us helped write. The Compact signed by a representative of President Reagan would have provided Federal tax and trade law exemptions to encourage economic activity in theMarshalls and Micronesiawhich had been little developed by OTIA economically but which would need to become more. selfreliant under selfgovernment. The incentive proposals were irresponsible. however. Outlandish loopholes that would have created tax havens were proposed. They would have provided greater encouragement for investment in essentially independent sovereign States than are provided in U.S. areas. This House changed the provisions. still providing a very attractive investment climate but not violating defensible policy. At the same time. we recognized that the peoples of the islands had been misled in approving the compact on the economic benefits that it would bring. We also recognized the need to provide assistance for economic development.. We added a number of Federal programs and capital to facilitate U.S. economic activity in the islands. Some of the capital was guaranteed. other amounts were authorized. The bill includes a small portion of the funds we authorized to make up for what had not been done otherwise. There is one other matter that Chairman YATES and our committee have worked on which involves the freely associated states that I should mention. It concerns the safety of the atoll of Rongelap. contaminated by a U.S. nuclear weapons test 40 years ago. and the health and welfare of the atolls people. In acting on the compact with the Marshalls. our committee insisted on a provision to commit our Nation to answer the people of Rongelaps questions about the seriousness of the contamination and take the measures necessary to overcome any problems. The distinguished chairman of the full committee. GEORGE MILLER. and I have fought to get these commitments implemented. We now know that there has been good reason for the -concerns of the people of Rongelapin spite of the assurances of safety provided by Federal bureaucrats. Way out of proportion cancer rates and heartrendering birth defects prove that there is a problem. The bill includes a portion of the further funding that will be needed to address it. We expect that some of the additional funds will come through the Defense Department appropriations bill due to the origin of the problem and also due to the understanding of our distinguished colleague who chairs that subcommittee. JOHN MURTHA. Other funds will have to be provided later. Since all that needs to be done is still not clear. the fundsfor cleanup and resettlement of Rongelap as well as other needs of the communitywould be spent with the approval of OTIA. Given its record of relative insensitivity to problem. however. we will also expect to be given .adequate notice of the spending plans. This will provide us with an opportunity to act if bureaucrats against try to push the people back to the island before the problems are sufficiently dealt with. The people of Rongelap. who have been away from their homes for years now. can be more easily pressured to prematurely return because of the desperate conditions under which many are living in exile. We will expect their essential human needs to be met while they have to be away from Rongelap so that they can make truly free decisions about their future and they can live decently while a mess that our Government created is cleanup. .Mr. Chairman. as Members may know the administration expects to enter into free association with the last remaining part of the Pacific Islands Territory that we have been responsible for under an agreement with the United NationsPalau--on October 1. This relationship is authorized to be implemented under a law and terms which I am very proud to have sponsored. The bill includes the appropriate funding for this compact. It also. however. includes funds which I and others recommended. to fulfill responsibilities for developing these islands into selfreliance. In noting this. I want to also note that we will have to provide further funds for Palau if the compact cannot actually be implemented as agreed October 1. I also want to explain why the bill includes more special assistance than almost anyone had anticipated for the development of the one part of the Pacific Islands Territory that has be6ome a part of the United States political family: The Northern Mariana Islands. Current law requires $27.720.000 in such assistance annually until this requirement is changed. but the law also contemplated a change after Congress considered recommendations. OTIA recommended a S120 million commitment of assistance from fiscal year 1994 to fiscal year 2000. We objected to a new commitment of special assistance without conditions related to the commonwealths tax and alien labor policies. The tax policies fail to meet the Commonwealths responsibilities for selfreliance. The alien labor policies have let in massive numbers of nonresident workers. imposing costs on public services and threatening the social fabric of the community. They have allowed too many nonresidents to be treated inhumanely. And they use lowpaid. nonresidents and the Commonwealths freetrade relationship with the United States to unfairly compete with the garment industry in the States and other insular areas. OTIA hindered agreement on a commitment with conditions last year. so the will of the House was to provide no funds rather than special assistance without conditions. In spite of this. OTIA recently recommended a scaleddown package of assistance27 million between fiscal years 1995 and 1996. without real conditions. This was amazing in light of the insistence of Chairman MILLER and others that there be conditions. OTIAs proposal is. obviously. unacceptable and. thus. $27.720.000 will continue to be provided. Mr. Chairman. in all of the Pacific issues I have mentioned. OTIA has performed disappointingly. The office. perhaps fortunately. also. though. has much less of a role than it once did. In fact. most of our frustrations with it relate to it interfering in areas outside of its real mandate in policies and programs which other agencies now handle directly with selfgoverning insular areas. Further. OTIA will lose one of its most important remaining missions when the Compact with Palau is implemented. .scheduled. as I mentioned earlier. for October 1. While OTIA now oversees and subsidizes the Government of Palau. relations will then be conducted by a State Department Office.and most assistance will then be provided on an automatic basis. OTIA once oversaw and subsidized the governments of all of the insular areas. But it now oversees none other than Palau and only subsidizes American Samoa with funds that involve any substantial work on its part. Most of its work is in providing the special assistance that I have mentioned. . In spite of this. OTIA spends a substantial amount of funds in ways that relate to its former role as an overseer of insular governments and lead agency on matters concerning them. These expenditures especially involve intergovernmental liaison. travel. and the responsibilities of other agencies. At the same time. it doesnt attend to its real areas of responsibility well. In case there is still any question about this. I want to mention an issue that is not covered by this bill because it doesnt require funding--but is one of OTIAs few remaining major responsibilities: Disposing of Water Island in the Virgin Islands. The disposal was complicated by a deficient lease that the Department entered into in 1952. But legal complications arising from the lease really only involve- a portion of the property and a settlement could have been worked out. We have done everything possible to help OTIA find its way. from hearings. to a law requiring a plan. to House passage of a process. to an agreement with the Senate chairman on the parameters of a disposal. I have given guidance on every policy question. but OTIA has tied itself in legal and political knots. And a year and a half after the end of the lease. the island still has not integrated into the local community. hundreds of people involved are in limbo. and some of the most precious property under the U.S.-flag cannot be put to its best uses. OTIAs performance and. reduced role does not justify the level of funds that have been provided for it. So. Chairman MILLER and I worked with Chairman YATES to reduce funding for OTIAs own expenses. while increasing funding as appropriate to meet needs in and Federal responsibilities regarding the insular areas themselves. The reduction in the bill is the least that we believe should be agreed to. In conclusion. I want to commend Chairman YATES and the ranking member of the subcommittee. RALPH REGULA. for the continued support they have shown to the peoples of the U.S. offshore areas. I also want to note the H4914 Co work and cooperation of the staff. especially Kathy Johnson. I urge my colleagues to support this bill.