Case appointed to Board Of Trustees for the Congressional Office for International Leadership

US Rep. Ed Case of Hawai‘i has been appointed by the Speaker and Minority Leader of the House to the Board of Trustees for the Congressional Office for International Leadership. The office is an exclusively legislative branch office dating back to 1999 whose purpose is “to inspire Congressional and citizen diplomacy with global civic and political leaders.”

COIL’s primary effort is its Open World program, through which Congress brings its international counterparts and other leaders to the United States.

Through Open World, delegations participate in a 10-day professional exchange that begins in Washington, D.C., where they meet with Members of Congress, before traveling to communities across the United States to engage with professional counterparts and exchange expertise.

Participants also live with host families, providing them with an opportunity to experience American life and culture firsthand. To date, Open World has hosted some 32,000 international delegates in Congress and across all 50 states, including Hawai‘i.

In supporting Case’s appointment, COIL’s leadership highlighted Case’s ongoing advocacy for direct diplomatic engagement among legislative bodies, as well as focus on the Pacific. As a then-member of the House Appropriations Committee’s Subcommittee on the Legislative Branch, which funds Congress, Case successfully sought expansion of Open World, which had focused on Eurasia, to the Indo-Pacific.

“We are honored to have a Member of Congress who has been such a fierce advocate for our Open World program officially join the Office’s leadership,” said Jane Sargus, Executive Director of COIL. “Your joint letter with Congressman Bacon [Don Bacon (R-Nebraska), also a member of COIL’s Board] and requesting additional programming in the Indo-Pacific, set the stage for COIL to become a truly global agency.”

Since launching Open World in the Indo-Pacific in 2022, COIL has rapidly expanded its programs to now include emerging leader delegations from Vietnam, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Kiribati, Vanuatu and Fiji. Case and colleagues routinely meet with these delegations in Congress, which Sargus says is producing some of Open World’s most impactful results and garnering strong interest from other Members of Congress.

“I am honored to be able to assist in the continued growth and unique contributions of COIL to critical interchange between our country and the rest of our world, especially my own Indo-Pacific”, said Case, who also co-founded and co-chairs the Congressional Pacific Islands Caucus. “I believe strongly that, as a separate, independent and co-equal branch of our government, Congress should and must be a full partner with our executive branch in our international diplomacy and has its own unique and direct role to play in engagement with other current and future leaders. COIL and Open World are key parts of that effort.”

The COIL Board of Trustees is composed of 11 members:

• Two appointed by the Speaker of the House, with one designated by the Majority Leader and the other by the Minority Leader.
• Two appointed by the President Pro Tempore of the Senate, with one each from the Majority Leader and the Minority Leader.
• The Librarian of Congress.
• Four individuals from the private sector.
• The House and Senate Chairs of the Appropriations Subcommittees on the Legislative Branch.

Case’s current fellow Board members are: (Chair) former US Sen. Benjamin Nelson of Nebraska; Robert Newlen, the Acting Librarian of Congress; US Sen. Deb Fischer, Chair of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on the Legislative Branch; US Congressman David Valadao, Chair of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on the Legislative Branch; US Congressman Don Bacon; James F. Collins, a former US Ambassador to the Russian Federation who now represents the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace; and former US Congressman David Dreier of California who now represents the Fallen Journalists Memorial Foundation. The remaining seats are being similarly filled.

In addition to his work with COIL, Case has pursued various other efforts toward strengthening relationships between the US and the Indo-Pacific.

These include: the BLUE Pacific Act in July 2020, which laid out a renewed vision and framework for US engagement in the Indo-Pacific and provisions of which have been incorporated in other legislation; the Pacific Partnership Act in May 2025, provisions of which were included in the House passage in September 2025 of the bipartisan PARTNER ACT; the PROSPER Act in December 2025 to strengthen the US Pacific Islands economic partnership; and the Pacific Islands Liaison Initiative Act in July 2026, which addresses the growing use of Pacific Island nations as transit hubs for cross-Pacific illegal drug trade by transnational criminal networks, particularly narcotics traffickers.

These also include funding for international efforts throughout his now-eight years as a member of the House Appropriations Committee which funds the federal government and where he now serves on the Subcommittees on Defense and Homeland Security. The current Fiscal Year 2027 funding measures (which have not yet passed Congress) include his funding requests for:

• Expanding medical care for military veterans living in the Freely Associated States including Micronesia, the Marshall Islands and Palau;
• Increasing Coast Guard operations and support funding for its expanding mission in the region.
• Supporting the growth of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security agency’s work in the Indo-Pacific.
• $2.5 million for partnering with Pacific Island nations and regional organizations to build capacity to oversee coastal fisheries management, combat illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing and address transnational organized crime.
• $3 million for the Advancing Port Enhancement and Customs Security Program in the Pacific Islands.
• Funding for the Pacific Islands Forum’s Pacific Resilience Facility, a Pacific-led and member-owned financial institution designed to support Pacific Islands nations facing climate change and disaster risks.
• Funding for commitments made by Deputy Secretary Landau to Pacific Island nations in his February 2026 trip, including to support subsea cable branching units for Tonga and Samoa, containing life-threatening disease outbreaks in Fiji, Foreign Military Financing for Fiji and the migration of Tongan government data assets to trusted cloud infrastructure.
• Report language directing the US International Development Finance Corporation and US Trade and Development Agency to prioritize the Pacific Islands in financing for projects;
• Report language supporting the Peace Corps’ expansion in the Pacific.
• Language requiring a report on ways to strengthen US trade and investment with the Pacific Islands.
• Funding for unexploded ordinance removal in the Pacific Islands, including Papua New Guinea and Solomon Islands. More information on COIL: www.openworld.gov