One member of Congress notably was missing as both house chambers return to avert a government shut down and when one of its committees presses solutions on the impacts of the Compact of Free Association Amendments Act of 2024. Guam delegate to the U.S. House, James “Jim” Moylan, did not attend a September 10 hearing on the COFA Amendments Act, an absence his Democrat opponent for the delegate seat noticed.

“Despite leading a large CODEL to Guam and holding hearings on the Compacts’ importance to U.S. national security, Moylan failed to protect $300 million in vital compact reimbursements for health, safety, and education for Guam,” a news release from the campaign committee Ginger Cruz for Congress states. “And now he is failing again.”
The reference is to the expiration of annual federal grant funding meant to partially offset the impacts of migration from the Freely Associated States (FAS) of Micronesia. The FAS form the member countries of compacts – or treaties – each of these neighbor countries have with the United States under compacts of free association (COFA). That COFA (“compact impact”) annual funding expired last year during Mr. Moylan’s first year in office.

His predecessor, Michael San Nicolas, was among the first to call out the Republican delegate for failing to secure funding for Guam, which historically has absorbed the bulk of migrants from the country’s most liberal immigration policy. Mr. Moylan blamed Mr. San Nicolas, saying the former congressman should have sounded the alarm bells in 2022.
Mr. Moylan late last year introduced the Guam Host Community Compensation Act, which would have extended compact impact funding for another 20 years. The House has yet to pass that measure, though Mr. Moylan attempted to have the House include at least a one-year extension to the funding in the current appropriations act, signed by the President in March. He was unable to maneuver the amendment.
To Ms. Cruz’s point about national security, the September 10 hearing Mr. Moylan missed – while indirectly tied to funding opportunity – was centered on Congress and the administration doing what it needs to do to keep Chinese Communist Party aggression from influencing Micronesia further.
The hearing was held by the House Committee on Natural Resources Subcommittee on Indian and Insular Affairs. The subcommittee chairwoman, American Samoa Republican Amata Radewagen, said “Congress’ timely passage of the COFA Amendments Act and successful renewal of the COFA agreements speaks to the U.S. commitment to preserving our special relationship with our FAS allies and to countering the maligned activities of the CCP; however, there is still more left to be done. The U.S. must remain committed to following through on obligations promised under the COFA Amendments Act.”

A news release by the subcommittee issued after the hearing emphasized the strategic importance of the compacts against Chinese aggression. “Implementing the COFA agreements is vital to maintaining the United States’ partnership with its allies in the Indo-Pacific and deterring the Chinese Communist Party’s increasing aggression in the region,” the news release states.
Earlier this year, Mr. Moylan joined other congressional signatories to push the Biden administration to remove certain exemptions the CNMI enjoys that make it easier for Saipan to welcome Chinese visitors. The letter was written reportedly out of concern raised by military and state department officials of the proliferation of CCP spies in the Mariana Islands.
Ms. Cruz has repeatedly made the case that despite the sitting congressman’s words and press releases, her competitor lacks substance, has missed many opportunities to help Guam in Congress, has lost for the island what previous congressmen had achieved, and has been absent from the job.
“From Jan 2023 to Sep 2024, Moylan missed 190 of 534 roll call votes, which is 35.6%,” the government watchdog GovTrack reported today. “This is much worse than the median of 2.1% among the lifetime records of representatives currently serving.”
“Moylan asked for the job—the least he could do is show up for work,” Ms. Cruz said in a news release. “For the first time in decades, Guam is left without financial support for compact participation. Our people deserve better.”
Kandit Wednesday asked Mr. Moylan’s chief of staff, Bobby Shringi, for a reaction from the congressman. He has not replied as of the publication of this report.
“The committee hearing today never once mentioned the financial hit taken by the people of Guam when the 20-year agreement was signed into law excluding compensation for our island. Moylan has given up,” Ms. Cruz said. “So long as my opponent is in office we’ve gone from one voice in Congress to no voice at all.”