Interior Provides $5,000,000 to the Compact Trust Fund for the People of the Marshall Islands

WASHINGTON – The United States (U.S.) Department of the Interior’s Office of Insular Affairs (OIA) announces that $5,000,000 in funding has been provided in fiscal year 2022 by the United States Congress as a step toward the fulfillment of a U.S. responsibility. The United States is providing economic compensation for adverse financial and economic impacts in the Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI) after tax and trade provisions intended to benefit the RMI were removed by Congress from the Compact of Free Association under Public Law 99-239 as amended to Public Law 108-188. Congress has designated that this funding be deposited to the Compact Trust Fund for the People of the RMI.

“In taking this step and providing another payment of $5 million to the Compact Trust Fund for the Marshall Islands, we are keeping commitments made by our two nations under the Compact of Free Association,” said Deputy Assistant Secretary for Insular and International Affairs Keone Nakoa. “These funds bring us closer to fulfilling RMI’s petition to make them whole based on the requisite adverse-impact reports submitted before 2009. With one final $5 million payment requested by the Biden Administration in this year’s budget, the United States will soon hopefully settle this matter, so we can both close the books on this mutually agreed solution intended to benefit the people of the RMI by bolstering the Trust Fund corpus.”

Made available through the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2022, Public Law 117-103, the funds will be deposited to the Compact Trust Fund as required by law and supplements two previous payments of $5,000,000 each authorized by Congress in January 2020 and in January 2021 for the same purpose.

For more information on the Compact Trust Fund, visit the official website at https://rmicfatf.com/.

 The Assistant Secretary of Insular and International Affairs and the Office of Insular Affairs (OIA) carry out the Secretary of the Interior’s responsibilities for the U.S. territories of American Samoa, Guam, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Additionally, OIA administers and oversees federal assistance under the Compacts of Free Association to the Federated States of Micronesia, the Republic of the Marshall Islands, and the Republic of Palau. OIA also administers a discretionary Technical Assistance Program for all the insular areas. Find information about OIA and its work on www.doi.gov/oia, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube.

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