Recognizing the Blue Pacific Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. CASE. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of my Boosting Long- Term U.S. Engagement in the Pacific (BLUE Pacific) Act, co-introduced with my Pacific Islands Caucus Colleagues Congresswoman Radewagen, Congressman Bera and Congressman Sherman.

This bill directs a comprehensive and sustained approach to U.S. engagement in the Pacific Islands, a critical part of the broader Indo- Pacific where much of the future of the world is being charted.

The lands and waters of the jurisdictions spread across Melanesia, Micronesia and Polynesia comprise an area larger than the land areas of China and Russia combined and represent a major portion of the vast Pacific Ocean and our Earth's surface. The peoples of these islands have developed their own proud cultures and identity over millennia, and for centuries now have shared historic, cultural, economic and strategic ties with the United States. Tens of thousands of U.S. and allied servicemembers died throughout the Pacific Islands in World War Two defending the common values shared between our country and the Pacific Islands. Our presents and futures are entwined; they are being and will be determined jointly.

Last year's U.S.-Pacific Islands Summit in Washington and the Strategy for Pacific Partnership released at that summit built on prior versions of our BLUE Pacific Act first introduced by our Pacific Islands Caucus in 2019. They represented a confirmation of our shared histories and path and a full re-engagement on all fronts with the Pacific Islands.

Our BLUE Pacific Act reintroduced today updates our prior versions to account for portions already enacted through other vehicles as well as the U.S.-Pacific Islands Summit. It supports the tenets of the Pacific Islands Forum's 2050 Strategy for the Blue Pacific Continent, ensuring that our efforts are fully responsive to and synchronized with the expressed direction and needs of the Pacific Islands nations. It specifically codifies the Strategy for Pacific Partnership and requires updates to the strategy every four years. It also includes language encouraging the allocation of more staff to the Pacific Islands, and the facilitation of U.S. support for trade capacity building, environmental change mitigation, education, civil society engagement and security training.

These further initiatives support the significant strides we have made in recent years towards fully reengaging the Pacific Islands region across a range of common values and interests and in response to specific Pacific Islands needs. In this moment, as the Pacific Islands recover from the health and economic impacts of the pandemic and are confronted with increased environmental, security and other challenges, this re-engagement is vital. Our bill says to the Pacific Islands that the United States is a partner they can trust and rely upon over the long term.

For these reasons, I ask that my colleagues support our bill. Mahalo (thank you).

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