James Moylan, Guam’s delegate to Congress, responds to U.S. Department of Interior “there seems to be no real effort to provide mandatory reimbursements.”
Following a statement by the U.S. DOI explaining why it did not request a continuation of the Compact Impact funds, Moylan responded in a release sent out this weekend.
He stated that there still needs to be a discussion on the need of these appropriations to offset the costs of Compact migrants on COFA host communities like Guam.
For the past 20 years, Guam, Hawaii and other jurisdictions in the Pacific that host migrants from the Freely Associated States have received appropriations to offset the financial impacts of the Compacts of Free Association Amendments Act.
The Republican Delegate said that the DOI fails to understand that the $13-$14 million in mandatory funding Guam received was in-equitable compared to what the island expended as a COFA host community.
The safety net programs, although “part of the solution” do not fulfill the need of Compact Impact funds for host jurisdictions.
Moylan added that he is working along with Democrat Gov. Lou Leon Guerrero and the Legislature to ensure a reasonable solution is found.
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