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1 1 (August 15, 2022)

handle is hein.crs/goveiar0001 and id is 1 raw text is: Congressional Research Service infornincg ihe Iegislative debate since 1914 The Compacts of Free Association 0 August 15, 2022 Overvew The Compacts of Free Association govern the relationships between the United States and the Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI), Federated States of Micronesia (FSM), and Republic of Palau. The Marshall Islands, Micronesia, and Palau were districts of the former U.S.-administered United Nations Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands, established after World War II, and later became sovereign countries in free association with the United States. The Compacts grant the United States the prerogative to operate military bases in the RMI, FSM, and Palau (Freely Associated States or FAS) and make decisions related to their external security, and they entitle the FAS to U.S. security guarantees and economic assistance. Citizens of the FAS have the right to reside and work in the United States and its territories as lawful non-immigrants or habitual residents. More than 94,000 FAS citizens live in the United States, including children under age 18 who were born in the United States and hold dual citizenship. Citizens of the FAS, which do not have their own militaries, are eligible to join the U.S. military; several hundred FAS citizens currently serve in the U.S. Armed Forces. The three Compact countries cover a maritime area larger than the continental United States, govern over 1,000 islands and atolls, and have a combined population of approximately 200,000. The FAS economies face structural challenges similar to many other Pacific Island counties (PICs), including lack of economies of scale, small land areas, limited natural and human resources, remote locations, poor infrastructure, and vulnerability to climate change. The RMI, FSM, and Palau rank 184th, 190th, and 96th, respectively, out of 229 countries by gross domestic product per capita. Located roughly 2,500 miles southwest of Hawaii, the FAS play a role in supporting the U.S. security presence in the Pacific Islands region at a time of increasing strategic competition between the United States and its allies, on one hand, and the People's Republic of China (PRC), on the other. The Biden Administration's Indo-Pacific Strategy, released in February 2022, articulates U.S. goals in the Pacific Islands region, including building climate resilience, addressing needs in the areas of information and communications technologies; and protecting fisheries. It emphasizes, We will also prioritize negotiations on our Compacts of Free Association with the Freely Associated States as the bedrock of the U.S. role in the Pacific. Compact Negot ations The main FAS-related issues facing Congress center on negotiations to renew U.S. economic assistance pursuant to Title II of the Compacts of Free Association. Such assistance is currently provided largely through Department of the Interior mandatory funding. The FAS are also eligible for some U.S. federal programs and services. Economic assistance is set to expire at the end of FY2023 for the RMI and FSM and at the end of FY2024 for Palau. Defense, security, migration, and other Compact provisions are to continue unchanged. Once bilateral agreements on renewing assistance are reached, both houses of Congress must approve them through implementing legislation. Compact negotiations, led on the U.S. side by the State Department, began in 2020 but stalled later that year and remained largely suspended through early 2022. Several factors played into the breakdown in negotiations: the COVID-19 pandemic, which prevented in-person discussions; Trump Administration proposals to provide future Compact assistance through discretionary rather than mandatory funding; the lack of a high-level, political appointee to lead negotiations and coordination among agencies on the U.S. side; an absence of specific funding proposals from the FAS; and resistance by some U.S. agencies to continue programs in the FAS due to costs. Figure 1. The Freely Associated States Sources: CRS. Information from Esri and U.S. Department of State. In March 2022, following calls by some Members of Congress and others for the Biden Administration to jumpstart talks, the Administration appointed Ambassador Joseph Yun as Special Envoy for Compact Negotiations. It also pledged to seek mandatory funding for future assistance. Yun has led several bilateral rounds of negotiations with the FAS as of August 2022. U.S. negotiating teams have included personnel from the Departments of State and the Interior and U.S. Indo-Pacific Command. U.S. and FAS officials have expressed hope of completing negotiations in 2022.

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