PALIKIR, Pohnpei—On January 13th, 2022, the 22nd Congress of the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM) began its 3rd Regular Session. After the opening session, His Excellency David W. Panuelo virtually received the Committee to Wait on the President. Chaired by the Honorable Esmond B. Moses, Vice Speaker of the FSM Congress, committee members included the Honorable Joseph J. Urusemal, the Honorable Perpetua S. Konman, and the Honorable Aren B. Palik.
The bulk of the meeting focused on the Executive Branch’s six proposed overseas development assistance priorities, a supplemental budget request, and discussion on various pending legislation.
Regarding the six proposed overseas development assistance priorities, the President requested Congress’ endorsement on the following nation-wide priorities: Climate-resilient infrastructure for outer island transport; the construction of a medical diagnostic facility; the Pave the Nation Initiative; renewable energy; the construction and utilization of a vocational school; and water security for the FSM.
Having these priorities endorsed by the FSM Congress would, in the President’s view, be a concrete demonstration of country ownership, and cooperation and commitment with the FSM’s development partners.
Regarding the proposed supplemental budget request, President Panuelo requested that Congress appropriate approximately $4,900,000 for various Capital Projects, subsidies, contributions, and for Executive Branch operations.
Part of the operation budget for the Executive Branch would cover funding for the salary of a Chief of Staff, additional personnel for the Department of Justice, and contracts at the Department of Transportation, Communication, & Infrastructure, among others.
Part of the subsidies budget would include additional funding for the United Nations Multi-Country Office, and $250,000 for the FSM Telecommunications Cable Corporation, commonly referred to as the Open Access Entity to distinguish it from the FSM Telecommunications Corporation. President Panuelo also noted that the 4th FSM Constitutional Convention has requested an additional $85,000 in funding so that the essential work of the Convention can continue.
Part of the Capital Projects budget would include $313,200 for the operation of national vessels, and slightly more than two million dollars ($2,000,000) for the construction of a new Executive Branch building to house the Department of Education and Department of Health & Social Affairs.
Additionally, the President has requested one million dollars ($1,000,000) to continue funding the repatriation process, e.g. the cost of pre-quarantine in the U.S. Territory of Guam. The President advised that approximately $150,000 donated by the People’s Republic of China, and a further $850,000 donated by New Zealand, had nearly been depleted, and so additional funding is necessary in order to ensure the sustainability of the repatriation process over the course of 2022.
The bulk of the remainder of the meeting focused on the various pending legislation the Executive Branch has submitted for Congress’ review and, ideally, endorsement. These legislation include the proposed Freedom of Information Act; the proposed cybercrimes bill; the proposed non-communicable diseases bill (which seeks to lessen the occurrence of diabetes and high-blood pressure in the FSM); the proposed passport extension bill, which would increase the lifetime of an FSM passport from five years to ten years; the proposed legislation on the bunkering and provisioning of vessels; the proposed legislation for penalties on the importation of prohibited plastic materials; legislation to enhance the Secretary of Finance’s tax enforcement capacity; and
proposed legislation to allow non-profit corporations to become chartered, among others.
The remainder of the meeting covered the President’s responses to questions from the Honorable Senators. In this regard, there was substantial discussion on several legal matters concerning both the Executive and Legislative branches of the Government, as well as discussion on an increase of work related to the ongoing negotiations for the Compact of Free Association being a partial justification for an increase in the fees paid to the Nation’s legal counsel and lobbying firm in the United States.
