Congress restores eligibility to federal benefits for COFA citizens

Thanks to years of hard-fought advocacy by citizens of Compacts of Free Association (COFA) nations, COFA-led organizations, and their allies, President Biden’s recently passed spending bill comes with long-awaited good news. Once again—after nearly three decades—COFA residents are eligible for federal benefits, including SNAP, TANF, Social Security, and more. 

This change will have profound implications for Hawaiʻi’s COFA population—a group that faces disproportionately high rates of hunger and economic insecurity, yet has been largely ineligible for these critical safety net programs because of their citizenship status.

In 1982, COFA citizens (citizens of The Republic of the Marshall Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, and the Republic of Palau, collectively known as the “Freely Associated States”) were promised the right to live, work, and study in the U.S, in exchange for unfettered military access to their islands. 

U.S. military occupation and nuclear testing has had devastating impacts to the land and health of the people who live in these nations. The agreements were intended to provide some degree of reparations, and beginning in 1986, tens of thousands of COFA citizens moved to the U.S. in search of better economic opportunities for themselves and their families. In 2018, there were roughly 24,755 COFA residents living in Hawaiʻi—the highest in both number and proportion of any state in the U.S. 

The Welfare Reform Act of 1996 erroneously removed eligibility for public benefits for COFA citizens through a definition technicality—despite the fact that these individuals pay taxes just like any other U.S. citizen. In December 2020, Congress restored Medicaid eligibility for citizens of COFA communities. However, Congress failed to restore the other safety net programs to which they are entitled, maintaining unjust barriers to the economic security they were promised for the economic and environmental injustices they endured at the hands of the U.S. military.

The nearly 1000-page federal budget includes a provision known as Compact Impact Fairness, which explicitly exempts COFA citizens from the restrictions of the problematic 1996 law, making them eligible for “any specified federal program” for which lawful U.S. residents are entitled. 

The Compact Impact Fairness bill was first introduced back in 2021 by Hawaiʻi Senator Mazie Hirono and Representative Ed Case. The inclusion of this provision in the new spending package was a rare display of bi-partisanship co-led by Arkansas Senator John Boozman and Representative Steve Womack (both Republicans). Hawaiʻi and Arkansas are the two states with the highest COFA populations in the nation.

While this is an incredible win, more work is needed. The passage of this legislation means that Hawaiʻi—and other states around the nation—will need to begin the work of revising their eligibility systems to include COFA citizens. It will also take a considerable amount of effort to reach and enroll COFA households, many of whom may be unaware of the policy change, or may fear the stigma of utilizing social services after having been ostracized for decades. 

Hawaiʻi Appleseed congratulates our Pacific Island communities and leaders who have worked so hard to make this day a reality.