Takai Bill Would Increase COFA Migrant Fund to $185M
Hawaii, Guam and the Northern Marianas have struggled to help growing Micronesian populations.
U.S. Rep. Takai sent out emails Wednesday reflecting on his first 100 days in Congress — and asking for campaign contributions as well, which is a never-ending task for our elected officials in D.C.
One of the things the newbie congressman did during his short time in Washington — something that did not get much notice back home — was to introduce a bill that would help Hawaii, Guam and the Northern Marianas address growing populations of Micronesians.
The Compact-Impact Aid Act of 2015, introduced in February and referred to a House committee last month, would increase annual funding for regional migrant costs from $30 million to $185 million.
The bill is co-sponsored U.S. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii and Guam Delegate Madeleine Bordallo and Northern Marianas Delegate Gregorio Sablan.
As Guam’s , “Guam and Hawaii are seeing some of the largest influxes of migrants under Compact of Free Association agreements between their island nations and the U.S. government.”
Takai’s bill states, “By placing demands on local governments for health, educational, and other social services, migration under the Compact has adversely affected the budgetary resources of several states and territories.”
The challenge for Takai is getting the spending measure through a Congress controlled by Republicans, many of them loath to increase spending.
But, as the bill points out, “Congress declared that if any adverse consequences to States, territories, and other jurisdictions of the United States resulted from implementation of the Compact of Free Association, Congress would act sympathetically and expeditiously to redress those adverse consequences.”
