# Compact of Free

**Agency:** Interior  
**Account:** Compact of Free  
**Source document:** Office of Insular Affairs · p. 47  
**Vintage:** President's Budget PB2027  
**Canonical URL:** https://hitchintel.com/budget/interior/compact-of-free  

> **Trust:** parsed from the agency Congressional Justification. Approximate, **not summable**, verify at the cited page.


## Interior discretionary budget authority (OMB PBDB — authoritative)

FY2027 $18.80B, FY2026 $17.30B. This is the agency total, not a sum of the parsed lines.


## What this funds

For grants and necessary expenses, $250,000, to remain available until expended, to support Federal services and programs provided to the Republic of Palau, the Republic of the Marshall Islands, and the Administrative Provisions (including transfer of funds) At the request of the Governor of Guam, the Secretary may transfer discretionary funds or mandatory funds provided under section 104(e) of the Compact of Free Association Amendments Act of 2003, Public Appropriations Act of 1996, Public Law 104-134, that are allocated for Guam, to the Secretary of Agriculture for the subsidy cost of direct or guaranteed loans, plus not to exceed three percent of the amount of the subsidy transferred for the cost of loan administration, for the purposes authorized by the Assistance to Territories 9 Appropriations Language Office of Insular Affairs FY 2027 Budget Justification and Rural Development Act (7 U.S.C. 1926(a)(1)) for construction and repair projects in Guam, and such funds shall remain available until expended: Provided, That such costs, including the cost of modifying such loans, shall be as defined in section 502 of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974, Public Law 93- 344, as amended: Provided further, That such loans or loan guarantees may be made without regard to the population of the area, credit elsewhere requirements, and restrictions on the types of eligible entities under the Rural Electrification Act of 1936 and section 306(a)(1) of the Consolidated Farm and Rural Development Act: Provided further, That any funds transferred to the Secretary of Agriculture shall be in addition to funds otherwise made available to make or guarantee loans under such authorities. for Guam from the Secretary of the Navy to the Secretary of the Interior. Executive Order 10137, of June 30, 1950, amended Executive Order 10077 to make the transfer effective on July 1, 1950. The Guam Guam to be an unincorporated territory of the United States and provided that Guam's relationship with the Federal Government shall be under the general administrative supervision of the Secretary of the Interior. As a result of subsequent amendments to the Organic Act, Guam also elects its Governor and a Delegate to the United States Congress. (2) American Samoa. In 1900, the islands were placed under the administration of the Secretary of the Navy by Executive Order. In the Act of February 20, 1929 (48 U.S.C. 1661), Congress stated that until it shall provide for the Government of the islands of American Samoa, "all civil, judicial, and military powers shall be vested in such manner as the President of the United States shall direct." The President vested these powers in the Secretary of the Interior by Executive Order 10264, dated June 29, 1951. Secretary's Order No. 2657, dated August 29, 1951, set forth the extent and nature of the authority of the Government of American Samoa and the manner in which the authority is to be exercised. Secretarial Order 3009 dated September 24, 1977, provided for an elected Governor and Lt. Governor for American Samoa, and elected officials first took office on January 3, 1978. Pursuant to Public Law 95-556, American Samoa, in November 1980, elected its first Delegate to the United States Congress. (3) U.S. Virgin Islands. The islands were under the jurisdiction of the Secretary of the Navy from March of the Interior pursuant to Executive Order 5566, dated February 27, 1931. Organic legislation was first et. seq.). The latter has since been amended in various respects and the Virgin Islands' elected officials (4) Northern Mariana Islands. On March 24, 1976, the President signed a joint resolution of Congress approving the "Covenant to Establish a Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands in Political Union with the United States of America" (Public Law 94-241). The islands remained a part of the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands under the jurisdiction of the Secretary of the Interior pursuant to Executive 1978, provided for the separate administration of the Northern Mariana Islands, provided for the elected Government in the Northern Mariana Islands, and activated various sections of the Covenant. By Assistance to Territories 10 Appropriations Language Office of Insular Affairs FY 2027 Budget Justification Presidential Proclamation of November 3, 1986, and as a result of a valid act of self-determination pursuant to Section 1002 of the Covenant, the Northern Mariana Islands ceased to be bound by the United Nations Trusteeship Agreement of 1947 and became a commonwealth in political union and under the (5) Office of Insular Affairs. Established August 4, 1995, by Secretarial Order No. 3191. (6) Covenant (CIP) Grants. Funding under the Northern Marianas Covenant was first established in 1976 under Public Law (P.L.) 94-241, A Joint Resolution to Approve the Covenant to Establish a Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands in Political Union with the United States of America. further amended by Public Law 104-134, enacted in 1996, which reduced annual funding to the Northern Mariana Islands and reallocated additional funding to other uses, including capital infrastructure projects in American Samoa, Guam, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. (7) Compacts of Free Association. The Compact of Free Association Act of 1985 was enacted in January 1986 (P.L. 99-239) and authorized funding over a fifteen-year period for the Federated States of Micronesia and the Republic of the Marshall Islands. In December 2003, the President signed P.L. 108- 188, enacting amendments to the Compact of Free Association and providing an additional 20 years of guaranteed annual assistance to the Federated States of Micronesia and the Republic of the Marshall Islands. The Compact of Free Association for the Republic of Palau was enacted on November 14, 1986, as P.L. 99-658, and was implemented on October 1, 1994. The Compacts of Free Association Amendments Act of 2024 (P.L. 118-42) renewed financial assistance to the Republic of the Marshall Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia, and the Republic of Palau through fiscal year 2043. These basic legal authorities have been supplemented and modified over the years by various omnibus territory Assistance to Territories 11 Appropriations Language Office of Insular Affairs FY 2027 Budget Justification Assistance to Territories 12 Appropriations Language Office of Insular Affairs FY 2027 Budget Justification


**Where it sits:** Civilian / Non-Defense › Interior › Office of Insular Affairs › Compact of Free


*HitchAI is an independent intelligence service, not affiliated with the U.S. government. Civilian line dollars are parsed from agency Congressional Justifications and are approximate.*