US Department of the Interior

1. US Department of the Interior The Office of Insular Affairs (OIA)

2. What Does the Office of Insular Affairs Do? On behalf of the Secretary of Interior: • Directs, guides, and coordinates Federal policy in the territories • Manages grants and direct financial assistance to the territories • Administers and oversees Federal assistance provided to the FSM, the RMI, and Palau • Administers Compact impact grants

3. OIA’S BUDGET? Annual budget of $570 million reflects the long-term interests of the U.S. in the western Pacific and the Caribbean The budget is the framework through which OIA targets critical issues impacting the insular areas The goal is to provide assistance that will empower insular communities to overcome challenges and seize opportunities to pursue economic development, find sustainable energy solutions, promote sound financial management, and improve quality of life There are two funding categories in the budget: current ($104 million) and permanent ($466 million) appropriations

4. WHERE DOES MONEY GO? Most of the budget reflects mandatory commitments to the insular areas. Approximately 98% of OIA’s budget passes to the insular areas in the form of grants or direct assistance.

5. What Does Assistance Include? • American Samoa operations grant - $22.7 million • Covenant grants to CNMI, Guam, American Samoa and the US Virgin Islands (construction, disaster assistance, special initiatives) - $27.7 million • General technical assistance - $12.5 to $15 million • Operations and maintenance grants - $2.2 million • Brown Tree Snake control - $3 million • Coral reef initiative - $998,000

6. What Else Does Assistance Include? • Insular management controls/empowering communities - $2.2 million • Compacts of Free Association grant program and performance oversight - $287 million (includes temporary extension of financial assistance to Palau) • Compacts of Free Association Federal services subsidies - $2.8 million • Enewetak support - $449,000 • Compact impact assessments and provision of impact grant aid - $35 million

7. How Does OIA Assistance Relate to Health Care and Systems Development? • Hospital and health center construction • Construction of health centers and other health facilities • Improvement of power, potable water, waste water, and solid waste treatment • Medical equipment purchasing • Direct financing of health departments • Focal point for IGIA • Coordination of pharmaceutical and other support • Health information and accounting systems development • Strategic planning

8. Technical Assistance? Competitive grant and cooperative agreement program available to the U.S. insular areas and non-profit groups Application is made through Grants.Gov Financial assistance gives support not otherwise available to the insular areas to combat deteriorating economic and fiscal conditions

9. What Else About TAP? Grants and cooperative agreements are performance-based Grantees expected to provide evidence of demonstrated financial management capacity and measurable outcomes Examples of grant programs include building institutional capacity in health care, education, public safety, data collection and analysis, fiscal accountability, energy, transportation, economic development and communication.

10. What About OIA and the Compacts of Free Association? • OIA administers U.S. assistance to the FSM, RMI and Palau as delegated by the Secretary of the Interior and authorized by law. • 2004-2023 (PL 108-188): Second Compact period separates agreements for FSM/RMI • US defends FSM, RMI and Palau as if they were US territories and US defense arrangements continue until at least 2066 • Financial and other selected provisions for FSM and RMI were renegotiated to promote economic advancement and budgetary self-reliance • $3.6 billion total provided over 20 years: $2.1 billion FSM and $1.5 to RMI

11. What Else About the Compacts? For the RMI and the FSM: • The financial package includes direct financial assistance, trust fund contributions, authorized Federal services, disaster assistance, and inflation adjustment • Direct assistance is through annual grants and only in six areas: education, health, public infrastructure, public sector capacity building, and private sector development • HEALTH, EDUCATION, AND RELATED CIP ARE TOP PRIORITIES

12. What Important Provision Continues? Compact citizens are exempt from U.S. passport, visa and labor certification when entering the U.S., and are considered “non-immigrants” • Migration has increased 86% since 2003

13. Is There More? • Stronger accountability and ties to strategic development goals and actual performance • US funding decreases annually as trust fund contributions increase • At end of 20 years, trust fund intended to take the place of annual assistance • About 35% of funds go to education, 27% to infrastructure, and 22% to health For Palau: • Palau’s renegotiated Compact package awaits U.S. congressional action and the provisions will be different than RMI and FSM’s

14. What’s Done to Mitigate Impact? • As authorized by law, OIA provides $30 million in grant assistance to Guam, CNMI, Hawaii, and American Samoa only to mitigate the financial impact of migration • No other US state included • Hawaii received an additional $5 million this year to provide educational technical help • Uses have included health insurance coverage and hospital financing • Mitigation strategy includes improving education and health status in the FSM and RMI to address problems that drive people to migrate

15. Is This Enough? Guam and Hawaii claim millions of dollars of unreimbursed impact U.S. states without mandatory annual grant assistance are also beginning to ask for impact aid Health, education, and public safety are the three biggest areas of need