I thank my colleague Senator Leahy. Madam President, what is the pending business before the Senate now? Is it an amendment to this legislation? Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the pending amendment be set aside and that I be…
I thank my colleague Senator Leahy.
Madam President, what is the pending business before the Senate now? Is it an amendment to this legislation?
Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the pending amendment be set aside and that I be permitted to call up amendment No. 3344 and ask for its immediate consideration.
I ask unanimous consent that further reading of the amendment be dispensed with.
Madam President, this is an amendment offered by myself
and cosponsored by Senators Webb and Wyden. It would provide for the approval of an agreement between the United States and the Republic of Palau in response to Supertyphoon Bopha.
Few people are aware that as Hurricane Sandy was making its landfall in the northeastern part of our country, the United States, a supertyphoon known as Bopha was tracking a path of destruction across the western Pacific. The Republic of Palau, which is one of our closest allies and with which we are tied by a strategic alliance known as the Compact of Free Association, was struck by Bopha on December 2, causing extensive damage. The President of Palau declared a state of emergency, and the U.S. President, acting through the Department of State, issued a disaster declaration for Palau.
This massive storm went on to kill over 1,000 people in the Philippines. Fortunately, there were no deaths in Palau, but high winds and storm surge and torrential rains caused widespread damage.
A week ago the Ambassador from Palau, the Honorable Hersey Kyota, wrote to me as the chair of the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, which has jurisdiction for assistance to nations that are in free association with the United States. The Ambassador asked for my help in responding to the disaster, but he did not ask for additional funding. Instead, the Ambassador asked that the agreement on future assistance that was signed between the United States and Palau in 2010 be added to this emergency supplemental so the funding already agreed to by representatives of the United States would become available for disaster relief and recovery in Palau.
I fully support the request by the Ambassador. I am glad to have the cosponsorship of my colleagues Senator Webb, who is chairman of the Asia-Pacific subcommittee, and Senator Wyden, who, of course, is the incoming chair of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, and I urge my colleagues' support of the amendment.
The amendment tracks S. 343, which was introduced by me in February of 2011. At that time it was cosponsored by Senators Murkowski, Akaka, and Webb. The agreement to be approved would revise and update the Compact of Free Association that has governed U.S.-Palau relations since 1994 by extending and phasing out financial assistance over 11 years.
Palau is an island nation located strategically between the U.S. territory of Guam, the Philippines, and Indonesia. Captured in World War II, Palau became part of the U.S.-administered Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands. In 1994 Palau became a sovereign nation in free association with the United States under a 50-year compact that grants the U.S. military rights that the Department of State calls ``vital to our national security.''
The compact also provided Palau with an initial 15-year term of assistance that ended in 2009. The agreement would extend and phase out U.S. assistance by 2024. Congress has provided stop-gap funding since 2009, but the Department of Defense wrote to our committee--the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources--in April of 2011 stating:
Failure to follow through on our commitments to Palau, as
reflected in the proposed [agreement], would jeopardize our
defense posture in the Western pacific.
The agreement provides for the phaseout of financial assistance for operations, construction, and maintenance. The Congressional Budget Office's 10-year budget estimate for direct spending is $171 million. This U.S. commitment to future funding would make a crucial contribution to Palau's efforts to respond and recover from this present disaster.
U.S. failure to respond to the needs of this strategic ally in its time of need by simply approving the already signed agreement would signal to Palau and to most other nations in the Pacific that the United States is an unreliable partner. So I urge the support of my colleagues for this amendment and for approving the agreed-to assistance to Palau so they may have the resources needed to respond to Supertyphoon Bopha.
Madam President, I yield the floor, and I suggest the absence of a quorum.
