Hearing urged on compact impact problems

Colleagues from American Samoa, Guam, and Hawaii, and I have asked House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Doc Hastings (R-WA) and Ranking Member Edward Markey (D-MA) for a hearing on the compact impact program.  In November, the Government Accountability Office issued a report that I had requested along with representatives of other areas impacted by migration from the Freely Associated States.  GAO found that the Northern Marianas, Guam, and Hawaii counted $1 billion in costs from FAS immigrants for education, health, public safety, and social services from 2004 to 2010.  But the U.S. provided only $210 million to the U.S. insular areas as compensation.  The CNMI reported $55 million in costs and received $33 million from the federal government.  GAO recommended improvements in how the Interior Department and the U.S. insular areas account for these compact impact costs and noted the discrepancy between reported costs and compensation.  A hearing will provide further opportunity to make sure that the insular areas do not bear an undue burden from federal agreements with our neighbors in the Republic of Palau, the Federated States of Micronesia, and the Republic of the Marshall Islands.