Throughout Micronesia people have come to our offices to express Concern and even consternation with the unilateral decision of the Department of the Interior to curtail and eliminate federal programs. In addition to providing very needed employment, many of these programs have increased the quality of education, improved the delivery of health care, and otherwise met needs which would never have been addressed by the ordinary Trust Territory programs. Thus, we support enactment of section 104. We will now turn to a brief discussion of the Trusteeship Agreement, which is of course the fundamental basis of the presence of the United States in Micronesia, then we will discuss each of the three provisions referred to above. ° THE TRUSTEESHIP AGREEMENT The events leading up to the United States Trusteeship of Micronesia are very familiar to this Committee, as are the precise provisions of the Trusteeship Agreement itself. We briefly sketch that history and those obligations in order to provide an appropriate context for what we have to say about the specific provisions of the measure before this Committee. In the immediate post-war period, while Micronesia was still administered by the United States Navy, the question _ of Micronesia's future was debated at the highest level of government. . ¢ . win “* *¥ La nen’ + Advocates for annexation of the area argued the ‘er aS EO ms ae Bt uve wT HERoch. . ostoa » bey Rives Be Megs soe . pe ~ no ames . aap te et oe, tae 2 7