Trump’s 2020 Budget Proposal Includes $611 Million For U.S. Territories And Freely Associated States

U.S. President Donald J. Trump today proposed $611 million for fiscal year 2020 through the Department of the Interior’s Office of Insular Affairs (OIA) for the benefit of Americans in the U.S. territories of Guam, American Samoa, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, the Department of Interior Announced Monday.

The proposal also includes funding for U.S. allies in the Pacific who have a Compact of Free Association with the United States – the Federated States of Micronesia, the Republic of the Marshall Islands, and the Republic of Palau.

The OIA budget proposal includes $84.1 million in discretionary appropriations and $526.6 million in mandatory funding, the release made known.

Mr. Trump’s 2020 budget proposal is the largest in U.S. history at $4.75 trillion. It includes $8.6 billion to build a wall along the U.S./Mexico border, and another $750 billion for the military — more than the Pentagon requested. The budget proposal is expected to be dead on arrival in the Democratic-controlled House.

“The 2020 budget request prioritizes the department’s mission to fulfill our insular area responsibilities in the Caribbean as well as in the Pacific,” said the U.S. Assistant Secretary of the Interior for Insular and International Affairs Doug Domenech. “The proposed budget represents action to strengthen economic and health capacities in the U.S. territories while also fulfilling U.S. obligations to the freely associated states.”

The budget proposal is expected to be rejected because it calls for cuts in safety net programs such as Medicaid and Medicare. According to The New York Times, the Medicare changes would save $846 billion over a decade, in part through curbing “waste, fraud and abuse.” The administration also proposes spending $26 billion less on Social Security programs, including a $10 billion cut to the Social Security Disability Insurance program.

The assistant secretary of the Interior for Insular and International Affairs and the Office of Insular Affairs carry out the Secretary’s responsibilities for the U.S. territories of Guam, American Samoa, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. Additionally, OIA administers and oversees Federal assistance under the Compacts of Free Association to the Federated States of Micronesia, the Republic of the Marshall Islands, and the Republic of Palau.