[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 162 (2016), Part 2]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 1728]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




             KEEPING AMERICA STRONG IN THE WESTERN PACIFIC

                                 ______
                                 

                  HON. GREGORIO KILILI CAMACHO SABLAN

                    of the northern mariana islands

                    in the house of representatives

                      Wednesday, February 10, 2016

  Mr. SABLAN. Mr. Speaker, today, I am introducing legislation to 
approve a 15-year extension of the United States' Compact of Free 
Association with the Republic of Palau.
   President Ronald Reagan, recognizing the importance of the Western 
Pacific to U.S. security interests, first negotiated the Compact with 
Palau. President Reagan's prescience of the need to maintain strategic 
denial to the military of other nations in the land, air, and sea of 
Palau--an area the size of Texas--is apparent now more than ever.
   Yet we in Congress have failed to maintain the commitment that 
President Reagan established with Palau. The 1986 Compact provided for 
annual economic assistance. In 2010, the U.S. and Palau agreed to an 
extension of this Compact assistance and agreed that funding should 
gradually taper off over the succeeding 15 years. In 2012, Chairman 
Donald Manzullo of the Subcommittee on Asia and the Pacific introduced 
the necessary legislation to approve the extension. Hearings and markup 
were held, but no further action ensued.
   It is true that Congress has continued to provide financial 
assistance to Palau per the terms of the extension agreement--but only 
on an installment basis, year-by-year. No long-term commitment to our 
ally has been forthcoming. Yet, the Republic of Palau continues to send 
its citizens to serve in the U.S. Armed Forces. Palau votes with the 
United States in the United Nations 95 percent of the time. And Palau's 
keystone geographic position in the defensive ``second island chain'' 
in the Western Pacific has not altered.
   Our failure to follow through on a negotiated agreement with a key 
ally not only leaves Palau uncertain about America's commitment. It 
leaves any nation that receives an assurance from the United States 
wondering whether America is good for its word.
   So, it is time to renew the effort here in Congress to affirm the 
alliance that President Reagan began. The legislation I am introducing 
approves the extension of the Compact of Free Association with the 
Republic of Palau. This legislation will help maintain the American 
presence that we acquired at great cost in the bloody battles of World 
War II and will bulwark America's position in the Western Pacific in 
the years ahead.

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