Everyone, it seems, wants the US Congress to pass the Compact of Free Association legislation for the RMI, Federated States of Micronesia and Palau — even most members of the Congress itself. But that hasn’t helped get the stalled legislation onto the Congress’ legislative calendar in a form that will make it passable. Over five […]
WILMER JOEL President Hilda Heine and her cabinet were formally inaugurated on Monday January 22 inside the Nitijela Chamber. Top dignitaries from the Pacific, Asia, and North America attended the inauguration. In her first second-term address to the nation as president, Heine outlined the goals of her administration in steering the country towards prosperity and […]
GIFF JOHNSONThe absurdity of the US State Department’s position that new money under the Compact, purportedly for the Marshall Islands nuclear legacy, cannot actually be used for any purpose related to the nuclear legacy, was pointed out in a letter by American Samoa Congresswoman Amata Radewagen to the chairmen of the two committees in the […]
Don Young, who served for nearly 50 years in the US House of Representatives, died Friday at 88. He was traveling to his home state of Alaska at the time. Young was the Dean of the US House and an active supporter of Pacific island issues. Over the years, he visited the Marshall Islands with […]
WILMER JOEL For nearly 30 years the Marshallese people and government have commemorated March 1 as Nuclear Victims Remembrance Day, an event to remember the horrors, memories, and injustice as a result of 67 nuclear testing by the United States. “Let today not be a time of shaming one another,” said Nitijela Speaker Kenneth Kedi […]
GIFF JOHNSON Three Marshall Islanders delivered clearly worded testimony to Rep. Katie Porter’s subcommittee seeking US Congressional action to ensure that the Marshall Islands nuclear test legacy is fully addressed by the US government.Despite a refusal to date by the US executive branch to agree to address the nuclear issue within the framework of Compact […]
California Congresswoman Katie Porter is advocating for the Marshall Islands on multiple fronts. She joined with Natural Resources Committee Chairman Raul Grijalva last week in calling on the Biden Administration to appoint a special representative to the Compact talks with a National Security Council mandate, similar to the first Compact negotiations, to address the wide […]
