US Department of the Interior

1
US Department of the Interior

• The Office of Insular Affairs (OIA)

2
What Does the Office of Insular Affairs Do?

• On behalf of the Secretary of Interior
• Directs, guides, and coordinates Federal policy
  in the territories
• Manages grants and direct financial assistance to
  the territories
• Administers and oversees Federal assistance
  provided to the FSM, the RMI, and Palau
• Administers Compact impact grants

3
OIAS BUDGET?

• Annual budget of 570 million reflects the
  long-term interests of the U.S. in the western
  Pacific and the Caribbean
• The budget is the framework through which OIA
  targets critical issues impacting the insular
  areas
• The goal is to provide assistance that will
  empower insular communities to overcome
  challenges and seize opportunities to pursue
  economic development, find sustainable energy
  solutions, promote sound financial management,
  and improve quality of life
• There are two funding categories in the budget
  current (104 million) and permanent (466
  million) appropriations

4
WHERE DOES MONEY GO?

• Most of the budget reflects mandatory commitments
  to the insular areas.
• Approximately 98 of OIAs budget passes to the
  insular areas in the form of grants or direct
  assistance.

5
What Does Assistance Include?

• American Samoa operations grant - 22.7 million
• Covenant grants to CNMI, Guam, American Samoa and
  the US Virgin Islands (construction, disaster
  assistance, special initiatives) - 27.7 million
• General technical assistance - 12.5 to 15
  million
• Operations and maintenance grants - 2.2 million
• Brown Tree Snake control - 3 million
• Coral reef initiative - 998,000

6
What Else Does Assistance Include?

• Insular management controls/empowering
  communities - 2.2 million
• Compacts of Free Association grant program and
  performance oversight - 287 million (includes
  temporary extension of financial assistance to
  Palau)
• Compacts of Free Association Federal services
  subsidies - 2.8 million
• Enewetak support - 449,000
• Compact impact assessments and provision of
  impact grant aid - 35 million

7
How Does OIA Assistance Relate to Health Care and
Systems Development?

• Hospital and health center construction
• Construction of health centers and other health
  facilities
• Improvement of power, potable water, waste water,
  and solid waste treatment
• Medical equipment purchasing
• Direct financing of health departments
• Focal point for IGIA
• Coordination of pharmaceutical and other support
• Health information and accounting systems
  development
• Strategic planning

8
Technical Assistance?

• Competitive grant and cooperative agreement
  program available to the U.S. insular areas and
  non-profit groups
• Application is made through Grants.Gov
• Financial assistance gives support not otherwise
  available to the insular areas to combat
  deteriorating economic and fiscal conditions

9
What Else About TAP?

• Grants and cooperative agreements are
  performance-based
• Grantees expected to provide evidence of
  demonstrated financial management capacity and
  measurable outcomes
• Examples of grant programs include building
  institutional capacity in health care, education,
  public safety, data collection and analysis,
  fiscal accountability, energy, transportation,
  economic development and communication.

10
What About OIA and the Compacts of Free
Association?

• OIA administers U.S. assistance to the FSM, RMI
  and Palau as delegated by the Secretary of the
  Interior and authorized by law.
• 2004-2023 (PL 108-188) Second Compact period
  separates agreements for FSM/RMI
• US defends FSM, RMI and Palau as if they were US
  territories and US defense arrangements continue
  until at least 2066
• Financial and other selected provisions for FSM
  and RMI were renegotiated to promote economic
  advancement and budgetary self-reliance
• 3.6 billion total provided over 20 years 2.1
  billion FSM and 1.5 to RMI

11
What Else About the Compacts?

• For the RMI and the FSM
• The financial package includes direct financial
  assistance, trust fund contributions, authorized
  Federal services, disaster assistance, and
  inflation adjustment
• Direct assistance is through annual grants and
  only in six areas education, health, public
  infrastructure, public sector capacity building,
  and private sector development
• HEALTH, EDUCATION, AND RELATED CIP ARE TOP
  PRIORITIES

12
What Important Provision Continues?

• Compact citizens are exempt from U.S. passport,
  visa and labor certification when entering the
  U.S., and are considered non-immigrants
• Migration has increased 86 since 2003

13
Is There More?

• Stronger accountability and ties to strategic
  development goals and actual performance
• US funding decreases annually as trust fund
  contributions increase
• At end of 20 years, trust fund intended to take
  the place of annual assistance
• About 35 of funds go to education, 27 to
  infrastructure, and 22 to health
• For Palau
• Palaus renegotiated Compact package awaits U.S.
  congressional action and the provisions will be
  different than RMI and FSMs

14
Whats Done to Mitigate Impact?

• As authorized by law, OIA provides 30 million in
  grant assistance to Guam, CNMI, Hawaii, and
  American Samoa only to mitigate the financial
  impact of migration
• No other US state included
• Hawaii received an additional 5 million this
  year to provide educational technical help
• Uses have included health insurance coverage and
  hospital financing
• Mitigation strategy includes improving education
  and health status in the FSM and RMI to address
  problems that drive people to migrate

15
Is This Enough?

• Guam and Hawaii claim millions of dollars of
  unreimbursed impact
• U.S. states without mandatory annual grant
  assistance are also beginning to ask for impact
  aid
• Health, education, and public safety are the
  three biggest areas of need