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Read twice and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations.
Introduced May 13, 2025 by Catherine Marie Cortez Masto · Last progress May 13, 2025
Directs the President and federal agencies to develop a coordinated U.S. Strategy for Pacific Partnership and to strengthen coordination with allies, partners, and regional institutions on assistance to the Pacific Islands. Requires delivery of strategy reports (by Jan 1, 2026 and Jan 1, 2030), annual updates to specific Federal reports on transnational crime in the region, formal consultation processes with partners (including Australia, Japan, New Zealand, Taiwan, and Pacific regional bodies), and extends the same international immunities to the Pacific Islands Forum that other public international organizations receive when the U.S. participates. The law defines the Pacific Islands region and specifies which congressional committees receive required documents.
The United States has longstanding and enduring cultural, historic, economic, strategic, and people-to-people connections with the Pacific Islands, based on shared values, cultural histories, common interests, and a commitment to fostering mutual understanding and cooperation.
2015 National Security Strategy: declared the rebalance to Asia and the Pacific, affirmed the United States as a Pacific nation, and paved the way for subsequent United States engagement with the Pacific Islands.
2017 National Security Strategy: includes a commitment to "shore up fragile partner states in the Pacific Islands region to reduce their vulnerability to economic fluctuations and natural disasters."
2019 Indo-Pacific Strategy Report: identified the Pacific Islands as "critical to United States strategy because of our shared values, interests, and commitments."
2022 Indo-Pacific Strategy Report: recognized the need to engage further with the Pacific Islands on shared security goals.
Primary effects fall on federal agencies (led by the State Department and the White House) that must develop, coordinate, and report on the Strategy and updates. Agencies will need staff time and interagency processes to complete threat assessments, resource requests, and coordination mechanisms. U.S. allies, partner governments, and regional institutions (Pacific Islands Forum, Pacific Community, etc.) will be more formally involved in consultation and program alignment; this could change how assistance is sequenced and delivered in the region. Pacific Islands governments and communities are affected through expected increases in coordinated engagement and potentially clearer, regionally aligned U.S. programs. Extending immunities to the Pacific Islands Forum may facilitate its operations and U.S. participation in Forum activities. The reporting requirement increases congressional visibility into transnational crime and strategic concerns in the Pacific, which could lead to future policy or funding changes. Potential diplomatic sensitivities may arise from explicitly listing partners such as Taiwan, which could affect relations with other external actors; operational impacts will largely be administrative unless follow‑on funding or policy changes are enacted.
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Read twice and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations.
Introduced in Senate
