By David Brunnstrom
WASHINGTON, Jan 14 (Reuters) - The Trump administration was accused on Wednesday of dragging its feet in delivering congressionally agreed benefits to Pacific island nations being courted by China to try to woo them away from the U.S. strategic orbit.
The ambassadors of Palau, the Republic of the Marshall Islands and the Federated States of Micronesia as well as Democratic lawmakers told a congressional hearing that the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) had yet to implement extended benefits to veterans from the island nations who served with the U.S. armed forces.
The benefits are provided for as part of new 20-year programs the United States agreed to with the so-called Freely Associated States during the Biden administration, under which Washington provides the islands with economic assistance and other benefits, while gaining exclusive military access to strategic swaths of the Pacific China covets.
Citizens from the remote islands can live, study, and work in the U.S. and serve in the armed forces, and congressional legislation granted the VA authority to provide FAS veterans with enhanced access to care, such as telehealth visits, beneficiary travel, and mail-order pharmacy services.
“Unfortunately, the VA has yet to implement these authorities,” Micronesia’s ambassador, Jackson Soram, said in testimony to the House Natural Resources Subcommittee on Indian and Insular Affairs, which deals with FAS relations.
“Sadly, when our veterans return home, they face significant cost and access barriers to VA health care,” he said, adding that those who traveled for treatment not available locally were forced to pay for expensive tickets in hopes of reimbursement.
“Sometimes they get reimbursed, sometimes not,” he said.
Soram said the islanders held productive talks with the VA after the last congressional oversight hearing in September 2024, but these were suspended in April 2025.
“We stand ready to restart talks and finalize the agreement as soon as possible,” he said.
VA Press Secretary Pete Kasperowicz said 2024 legislation gave VA the option to provide direct medical care to FAS veterans, “but did not provide the funding for that care.”
He said VA provided FAS veterans with the same benefits available to other eligible veterans living abroad and “continues to work with the U.S. Congress to consider options for improved care for all Veterans, including those in the Freely Associated States.”
Anton Greubel, head of the State Department office responsible for the Pacific islands, told the hearing the senior U.S. diplomat for East Asia, Michael DeSombre, would visit the Marshall Islands and Micronesia next week for talks on ensuring effective implementation of the agreements with the islands, known as the Compacts of Free Association (COFA).
He called the FAS states “essential partners” and added: “Their trust and cooperation are vital to our national security and economic interests … We are committed to doing even more for the FAS in the year ahead.”
Democratic Representative Jared Huffman said it was vital to fully implement the agreements and added: “Many of us are concerned that President Trump has seemed to be slow-walking delivery of our end of that bargain.”
Republican Representative Jeff Hurd said China was seeking to undermine U.S. regional leadership and to exert influence over the FAS through coercion.
“Now more than ever, it is essential that the COFA agreements are faithfully implemented as Congress intended,” he said.
(Reporting by David Brunnstrom; editing by Diane Craft)
