releases: https://www.moran.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/news-releases?ID=120684C1-1B52-44B9-B7F8-D668B0DF2255
Data license: MIT · Data source: dwillis/congress-press
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| https://www.moran.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/news-releases?ID=120684C1-1B52-44B9-B7F8-D668B0DF2255 | Sen. Moran Joins Colleagues in Urging Senate Leadership to Move Compacts of Free Association Forward | 2024-03-04 | 2024 | 2024-03 | Republican | Senate | KS | Jerry Moran | M000934 | www.moran.senate.gov | moran | https://www.moran.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/news-releases | scraper | WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) joined his colleagues in urging Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), Senate Appropriations Committee Chair Patty Murray (D-Wash.) and Senate Appropriations Committee Ranking Member Susan Collins (R-Maine) to support legislation to renew the Compacts of Free Association (COFA) with the Federated States of Micronesia, the Republic of the Marshall Islands and the Republic of Palau. “Our COFA partnerships are critical to U.S. national security,” the senators wrote. “Failure to pass the renegotiated Compacts as soon as possible imperils our relationships with the Freely Associated States and the entire Pacific Island region, who view the COFA as a barometer of the U.S. commitment to the region. The resulting bicameral, bipartisan legislation will secure U.S. national security in the Indo-Pacific for the next two decades. We ask for your support in moving the COFA package forward with the urgency it requires.” COFA would also allow additional authorizations for the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to provide certain health care services to the estimated 500 U.S. military veterans in the Freely Associated States. Sen. Moran was join by Sens. Jim Risch (R-Idaho), Joe Manchin (D-W.V.), John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), Ben Cardin (D-Md.), Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii), John Boozman (R-Ark.), Jack Reed (D-R.I), Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), Tim Kaine (D-Va.), Todd Young (R-Ind.), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), Dan Sullivan (R-Ala.), Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), Bill Cassidy (R-La.), Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.), Mitt Romney (R-Utah), Gary Peters (D-Mich.), Rick Scott (R-Fla.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) and Lisa Murkowski (R-Ala.). Full text of the letter can be found here and below: Dear Leader Schumer, Leader McConnell, Chair Murray and Ranking Member Collins: We write in support of legislation to renew the Compacts of Free Association (COFA) with the Federated States of Micronesia, the Republic of the Marshall Islands, and the Republic of Palau, including in any legislative vehicle. Our COFA partnerships are critical to U.S. national security. Failure to pass the renegotiated Compacts as soon as possible imperils our relationships with the Freely Associated States and the entire Pacific Island region, who view the COFA as a barometer of the U.S. commitment to the region. They ensure that we, rather than a nation hostile to U.S. interests, maintain strategic control of the Pacific Ocean between Hawaii and the Philippines. The People’s Republic of China (PRC) is engaged in active efforts to undermine Pacific Island nations’ confidence in the United States. Failure to act on COFA opens the door to more corrupting influence and funding by the PRC in the region. The PRC is pursuing military basing and policing agreements in the region and working to undermine recognition of Taiwan, and exerting corrupting influence in several other countries. Without the COFA agreements, these trends would accelerate. These unique bilateral agreements are the product of nearly four years of negotiations under two Presidential Administrations, and year-long negotiations across eight primary committees of jurisdiction in the House and Senate and multiple others. The resulting bicameral, bipartisan legislation will secure U.S. national security in the Indo-Pacific for the next two decades. We ask for your support in moving the COFA package forward with the urgency it requires. Thank you for your attention to this matter. # # # | 1 | 2026-03-30T01:40:41Z | 2026-04-06T17:55:42Z |