Date: 1989-06-27
Speaker: DE LUGO (democrat)
Chamber: H

Mr. Speaker. during the last Congress. the Subcommittee on Insular and International Affairs. which I am privileged to chair. dedicated most of its efforts to the smallest of the eight insular areas: the western Pacific islands of Palau. These efforts were focused on a proposed Compact of Free Association with Palau. They led the House to pass legislation to authorize the compact to be put into effect last October 6 with 406 votes. In the closing hours of the 100th Congress. a compromise was reached on this legislation. Under it. the Reagan administration committed to fulfill the requirements of the House legislation without being required to do so by statute if the House would pass the Senate version with one mutually agreed upon amendment. Unfortunatley. the commitments that made the compromise possible were delivered literally minutes too late to get it enacted last year. Also unfortunately. the Reagan administration didnt follow through on the compromise. The ranking Republican of the Insular and International Affairs Subcommittee. BOd LAGOMARsrNo. promised. though. that the Bush administration would. So. in March. 65 Members joined me in sponsoring House Joint Resolution 175. the legislation that the compromise requires regarding Palau. I said then I would seek action when the Bush administration did what it could to implement the compromise. I suggested an addition to the compact be agreed to with Palau that would commit the United States to fulfill the requirements of the last Congress House legislation. After the Bush administration decided to honor the compromise. the State Department officer who had agreed to it in the first place. James Berg. began negotiating the needed subsidiary agreement to the compact with a Palauan commission headed by the islands new Vice President. Kuniwo Nakamura. Two administration proposals were made but fell short of the compromise. Meanwhile. some in Palau became concerned that the necessary consensus on the compromise would erode. Some in Washington felt that time for the compromise had run out. Finally. after Palaus leaders spoke out in the U.N. Trusteeship Council. Mr. Berg agreed to the commitments that made agreement possible. A subsidiary agreement for this purpose was signed on May 26. The Insular and International Affairs Subcommittee conducted a hearing June 8 to determine whether the agreement signed May 26 met the requirements of the compromise. I am pleased to report that our hearing confirmed that the agreement generally lives up to the compromise. The differences we found between the agreement and the compromise are minor and are fair to both the United States and Palau. For the most part. the agreement commits the executive branch to take action which would have been required by the House legislation in the last Congress. This makes it incumbent upon us to pass the legislation that the compromise requires. From conversations with the chairman of the committee of jurisdiction on the other side of the Capitol. I expect the Senate to also approve it. A substitute for House Joint Resolution 175. as it was introduced. that I proposed was approved by the Interior and Insular Affairs Committee last week by a vote of 24 to 2. The differences between the introduced resolution and the substitute are the following: First. the substitute would approve the May 26 agreement. effectively making it a part of the compact and this legislation. Second. the substitute includes a number of miscellaneous other insular measures that were included in the compromise but were not Included in House Joint Resolution 175. as it was Introduced. Third. It includes a few other miscellaneous insular measures that need to be enacted soon which the administra. tion either support or to which it has no objection and which the chairman of the Senate committee and I have agreed to have added by the House. We. in Washington entered into this compromise last October with the concurrence of leaders of Palau. Their support for it is important because the tree association relationship that the compact would bring about would be a mutual one. Palau. after all. must also approve the compact for it to become effective. Palaus leaders felt strongly that the original legislation we introduced on this matter a year ago offered the best chance for getting their peoplewho have failed to approve the compact in six referendumsto finally approve it. This was because the legislation addressed problems which had hindered approval of the compact in the past. They agreed with us. though. to the compromise between leaders of the Interior and Insular Affairs and Foreign Affairs Committees that made overwhelming House passage possible because they recognized the need for compromise. They also sent along with the final compromise on this legislation. reached in the last hours of the last Congress. because they recognized that it provided the best Improvements to the compact that we could get through implementation legislation. The agreement fairly represents these improvements to the compact. It expands upon them as much as can be agreed. So. I want the people of Palau to understand that this still is the best agreement we can now get on compact implementation legislation. I know that they have heard pronouncements like this before only to have these improvements made. But these improvements have been made in part through efforts that I. and other members of the Interior and Insular Affairs Committee. have fought for and my message to them is: We cannot now win more than we have already. I also want my friends in Palau to know. though. that I remain committed to working for any other needed improvements in free association between the United States and Palau under the compact. So. I would hope that this compromise will result not only in Congress final approval of the compact. but final approval by Palau as well. Palauan approval. of course. cannot be presumed. And it may be less assured than it seemed to be late last year and early this year. This is because of the long time it took for the administration to make the commitments that were needed. Still. from what I have heard from Palaus leaders. they will try to obtain their peoples approval. The need for Palauan approval is one of the reasons we should expeditiously approve this legislation. Palau needs to know the United States position on this matter to be able to make its own decision. This legislation should frame the necessary final United States position. Palaus leaders will then have to carefully Judge how to obtain their peoples final approval. For if this package does not result in Palaus approval of the Compact. there may be no way to ever get it approved. If the Compact is approved under this legislation. though. our efforts and theirs to get help for Palau to be able to fairly settle its crippling power facilities debt and relieve its medical referral debts. to root out corruption and correct fiscal mismanagement. to combat drug abuse. to build a decent hospital and jail. to fix deficient infrastructure. and to assure that the Compact will not interfere with the Palauan constitutional requirement for Just compensation for private lands needed for public purposes. will soon begin to bear fruit. We would. thus. finally achieve our mutual goal of ensuring that the United States meets its essential obligations under the trusteeship. We would be able to bring trusteeship responsibility to an end as soon as possible and do it with honor.