It's a major policy reversal that would cost GovGuam millions in federal reimbursement. The Biden Administration and the Interior Department want to put a halt to federal Compact impact funding starting next fiscal year. It would be a big setback in what's already been a very contentious issue between Interior and communities like Guam and Hawaii who have been clamoring for years that the annual reimbursement always falls well short of the actual costs of hosting migrants from the Freely Associated States.

Senator Frank Blas, Jr. first raised the concern, saying, "If this budget is approved as is we're not going to get anything. We're not going to get the $12 million to the $16 million in reimbursement. We're not going to get to be eligible for about $6 million in discretionary funding. And God knows what else is not going to be a part of this as a result of not being able to mitigate the impacts of this migration."

In documents obtained by Blas, the Department of the Interior has said any further assistance will be determined after the ongoing compact renewal discussions, and a new deal is signed with the FAS. Blas says the Leon Guerrero Administration shouldn't have to wait on that, noting, "We need for her to go to the Department of the Interior to the Office of Interagency Affairs, to the White House itself and say, 'Look, we're still being impacted by this and more so because of the responsibilities that you placed on us.'"

"What happens if these negotiations fail. What happens if these negotiations continue on for another couple of years as what happened with the Republic of Palau. That negotiation took a prolonged period of time. Are we then going to wait until that happens to have a discussion? That's not even a guarantee. They just said they're going to revisit it, they didnt say they're going to reinstate it."

Then there's the larger question that Guam's been asking the federal government since the Compact migration began, with Blas saying, "We have never been fully reimbursed...the migration has cost, has meant to us, to the tune of, I would say, a billion dollars."