H1226 ( CONGRESSIONAL RECORD —HOUSE February 25, 1980 Kwajalein missile range. It also has the fields of health and education, were. peoples’ own government of the Novthbest means of communication between .aroused because of the attitude of some ern Mariana Islands and the U.S. the United States and Kwajalein. The in the executive branch toward this Government. Department of Energy will have at its policy. Section 202 in the Senate bil is identi° disposal many of the people kn«wledgeThe administration's previously an- ‘eal to the Hotuse-passed bill, with the able in the relevant disciplines and it nounced policy ‘was to end by the ter- exception of the October 1, 1980, effective also has access to important laboratory mination of the trusteeship ali Federal date that the Senate was required to add and other facilities. Through the Law- prozrams for which the Micronesians at the request of the Senate Budget Comrence Livermore Laboratory and the currently qualify, without benefit of any mittee. It authorizes $24.4 million for Brooxhaven National Laboratory, worn studies to determine what was needed or health care services for the Northern of this kind has been done for many not needed, without benefit of consulta- Marianas. The NMI is greatly in need years and it may be wise to continue or . tion with the Micronesian peovle, withof a new and modern hospital and we expand those programs, as part of this out benefit of congressional input, and urge that some funding be provided as one. On the other hand, it is the inten- most fundamentally, without the recog- s00n as it is feasible. . tion of the committee that the Secretary nition of the congressional role relative We might note here that if the Senate will have discretion to designate new or to the territories as _ expressed in the report language on H.R. 3756 that sugdifferent agencies, public or private, to carry out these functions. Constitution. quires that the entire cost of the program strong language into its Senate report on H.R. 3756 (S. Report 96~-1467). This language stressed the continuing responsibility of the United States to provide for the general well-keing of the inhabitants Paragraph (3) of subsection (b) re- be included in the budget for theDepartment of Energy. This inchides all costs necessary and incidental to the planning, development and implementation of the program. It is the view of the committee that the cost of this entire prozram is The Senate Energy Committee deleted this section and in its place, put very of these islands and stated that the committee agreed with the House intent, but properly attributable to the nuclear Geleted the provision sinceit felt it only weapons testing and should not be re- ‘restated existing law regarding eligibility flected in the Federal budget as a charge and did not get at the heart of the probagainst the budget for the Trust Terri- _lem affecting participation in these protory of the Pacific Islands or its successor grams. While we were pleased that the governments. Senate agreed with our position and were Subsection (c) requires the Secretary . encourage that they included such clear-to prepare and distribute an annual re- ly supportive language in their commit-port both to the Congress and to the peo- tee report, we felt it incumbent on us to ple of the affected atolls. A description include particularly ¢and doubly) clearof the health status of the individuals and specific language within the statute examined and treated under the plan fs itself insofar as health and education are to be included,but the format of that in- concerned. Consequently, we revised the formation must protect the confidential- House language to cover all Federal proity of the doctor/patient relationship. It grams in the fields of education and must also include a review by the scien- health—the major areas of concern for tific advisory committee and any recom~- all of us responsible for the future of mendations which the committee has for Micronesians. improvement of the program. The first Our revised section provides that notreport is due on January 1, 1982. withstanding any other provision of law, We repeat what we said when H.R. Micronesians shall continue to be eligi3756 was before the House last May: We ble and particpate in Federal health and believe we have a special moral obliga- education programs as provided for by tion to these people and it is our intent the Congress. Our language makes it that this provision be interpreted to pro- clear, we believe, that the executive vide the most possible protection to branch has absolutely no authority now them. We also emphaticall; reiterate congressional intent that this provision and others affecting the TT’ in this bill shall remain valid and subsisting even after the termination of the trusteeship. Self evidently, the foregoing is subject to congressional action changing the law. However, it is intended to forewarn that any negotiations that disregard this determination will bear the full burden of that judgment when congressional approval is sought for the approval of such actions. The Senate, at the request of the In- terior Department, has added language amending Public Law 95-134 to allow additional compensation for certain nuclear victims in nced of further assistance. We concur in this amendment. The House-passedbill contained a section, section 104, that stated that Federal or in the future to deny, decrease, or end such authorized programs until or unless Congress alters or repeals such authorizations. In the second title of the bill, which deals with the Northern Mariana Islands, the first section provides that the salary and expenses of the government comptroller for the Mariana Islands shall be paid from funds appropriated to the Interior Department, This js simply writing into law a practice that has been followed oy Interior, While the Senate language for this section is different from the House-passed language, the intent is exactly the same and we concur with the approach they took to drafting this sec- tion. It should be noted here, in speaking of the Federal comptroller, that it was never and is not now our intention to give the comptroller any authority regarding the expenditure of covenant funds by the NMI government. That, we believe, is a responsibility that solely programs that applied to the trust territory would not cease ta apply, either before or after the termination of the trusteeship, without the express consent of rests with the NMI government. The the Congress. Our concerns for the needs. covenant funds were agreed to as a result of the Micronesians, particularly in the of an agreement between the sovereign gests that the medical center of the Mar- janas, which is located in Guam, might be used to meet the needs of the people of the Northern Marianas means anything more than perhaps considering that hospital as a medical referral hospital for certain types of patients, we would disagree with it. The distance between Guam and Saipan is a 20-minute flight by jet and the cost via commercial transportation today is approximately $90 round trip. This is not something that could ba afforded by some 85 percent of the Northern Marianas people, so any attempt to coordinate medical services must be very carefully studied. The Northern Marianas is in need of its own modern hospital. Over and above that, if something can be carefully worked out between Guam and Saipan regarding medical referrals at Government exrense, then this is something that shauld be considered. Section 203 in the Senate bill is identical fo that contained in the Housebill. Wehave added several new sections to this Northern Marianas title. They deal with taxes in the Marianas. In 1978 Public Law 95-348 was enacted. In it, we provided that the IRS could go in to collect taxes if the government requested IRS to do so. The Northern Marianas government did request such . service of IRS last Juns. Unfortunately, the request sent to IRS was part of a resolution rather than a public law and IRS, saying it did not have the appropri- ate request according.to the law, has yet to comply with the request of the Northern Marianas government. Therefore, to help their fledging government for which so much of this is brandnew,. we have added language to the bill.to cover the NMI government's original res~ olution. We might note here that this authority to request the IRS to go into the Northern Marianas to administer and enforce tax laws is @ totaly separate - and distinct process from that which allows the NMI to request the Secretary of the Treasury to discontinue the adminis- tration and enforcement of such taxes. This latter process, as spelled out in Public Law 95-348, is in no way affected by this amendment. Additionally, this section amends wei(” tion 3(d) of Public Law 95-348. It pro- vides that the Secretary of the Treasury or. his designee may enter into a contract with the Commonwealth of the North- ern Marianas Islands to perform such duties and responsibilities, in whole or in part, as required by section 3(d). Pres-