Office of the Secretary
For Immediate Release
CONTACT: Keith Parsky 301-758-5537
Secretary Norton Signs $14.2 Million Grant for Guam
Hagatna, Guam, January 17, 2004 --Secretary of the Interior Gale Norton and Guam's Governor Felix Camacho today signed a grant that will provide over $14.2
million to the island to help deal with the social costs of migration from
other U.S.-affiliated islands--namely the freely associated states of
Federated States of Micronesia, Palau and the Marshall Islands.
"These funds will help the government of Guam provide health, education
and other social services to the citizens of the freely associated states
who are permitted to migrate here under the Compacts of Free Association,"
said Norton, who is making her first visit to Guam and the region. The funds
will be provided through the Department of the Interior's Office of Insular
Affairs
At a luncheon in her honor and while a visiting Congressional delegation
led by House Resources Committee Chairman Richard Pombo looked on, Secretary
Norton provided the first annual installment of the "Compact Impact"
payments under legislation signed by President Bush in December 2003. The
legislation authorized amendments to the Compacts of Free Association with
the Federated States of Micronesia and the Marshall Islands.
"We expect that the amended Compact will reduce migration by improving
health, education and economic opportunity in the freely associated states.
We also expect that those who choose to migrate will eventually contribute
much to the Commonwealth. But in the short run, migration can put a strain
on local budgets and these grants should help to alleviate that problem."
Norton thanked Congress for working to get the Compact legislation
passed. "Without the support of Congress, especially the House Resources
Committee under Chairman Richard Pombo's leadership, none of this would have
been possible," said Norton.
The Compact legislation provides that $30 million will be divided each
year for the next 20 years among the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana
Islands, Guam, Hawaii and American Samoa to help those jurisdictions deal
with the effects of migration from the Federated States of Micronesia, Palau
and the Marshall Islands, which are commonly known as the freely associated
states.
The funds are to be divided proportionally among the jurisdictions on the
basis of the number of people in each jurisdiction who migrated from the
freely associated states after 1986, when the original Compacts went into
effect. Minor children of such migrants are also counted.
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