[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 36 (Monday, February 27, 1995)]
[House]
[Pages H2228-H2229]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




              SSI EXTENSION TO GUAM AND THE VIRGIN ISLANDS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of 
January 4, 1995, the gentleman from Guam [Mr. Underwood] is recognized 
during morning business for 5 minutes.
  Mr. UNDERWOOD. Mr. Speaker, today I am introducing legislation to 
correct the fundamental flaw in the Republicans' welfare reform 
proposal contained in the Contract With America. Their proposal would 
substantially undermine the public assistance program by sending block 
grants to the States, limiting the Federal spending, and dropping 
millions of children and adults from the rolls, thus jeopardizing them 
to a future of poverty, joblessness, and hopelessness.
  The Republican proposal to restructure the welfare system is fraught 
with provisions to exclude noncitizens from receiving many public 
assistance programs. For instance, they would be ineligible for 
Medicaid, SSI, and a variety of food, housing, and health care 
programs. The denial of these services to low-income children and 
families is cruel and would only exacerbate their poverty and dim their 
hopes for a better future.
  While there should be strong and vigorous debate on the inclusion of 
noncitizens, perhaps it is not clearly known that not all U.S. citizens 
are included in the benefits. Let me repeat this: Not all U.S. citizens 
are eligible for SSI.
  I am concerned about a major omission in the majority's welfare 
reform bill, which fails to address the need for Supplemental Security 
Income coverage for the territories. Since the implementation of the 
SSI Program in 1974, the citizens of the insular areas have been 
excluded from participating in this program. The Republican bill 
continues to deny SSI benefits to the U.S. citizens living in these 
offshore areas. The bill I am introducing today would extend the SSI 
Program to Guam and the Virgin Islands, and I understand that the 
extension of SSI to American Samoa and Puerto Rico will be addressed in 
separate legislation.
  [[Page H2229]] The gross disparity of denying SSI to the territories 
is particularly significant, coupled with the fact that the total 
Federal expenditures for all cash assistance programs, including the 
Aid to Families with Dependent Children and the adult assistance 
programs, are capped each year for the insular areas. For Guam, the 
Federal cap is $3.8 million per year. In fiscal year 1994, Guam spent 
under Federal mandate approximately $15 million to provide Federal 
assistance to eligible low-income individuals.
  Today, I am seeking a quality of treatment for the people of Guam and 
the Virgin Islands in comparison with those residents of the 50 States 
and the District of Columbia. Citizenship in this country and the 
privileges associated with it should not be measured by geographic 
choice, in residency, or the size of one's pocketbook. Whether one 
chooses to live in Alaska, Florida, or the Virgin Islands, a federally 
funded program should be accessible to everyone. However, if you are 
residing in Agana, Guam, or St. Croix, Virgin Islands, you are not 
eligible for SSI benefits.
  Finally, providing SSI benefits to Guam and the U.S. Virgin Islands 
will provide the well-being of low-income aged, blind, and disabled 
residents of our island economies who are dependent on imports from the 
States and foreign markets.
  Guam and the Virgin Islands have been associated with Uncle Sam for 
many years. In a partnership associates share in the benefits of the 
association. Uncle Sam, it is time to share the wealth and the 
responsibility of caring for your partners. We on Guam have fulfilled 
our responsibilities by giving up one-third of our island for national 
security, giving our sons and daughters to fight in wars all over the 
world, and giving loyalty to the American flag every day of our lives.
  And here is the fundamental craziness in SSI eligibility, both from 
the past and into the present. The Commonwealth of the Northern 
Marianas is included and eligible under current SSI regulations, and 
they are 40 miles from Guam and have been associated with the United 
States since 1976 and became citizens at that time. Guam, whose people 
have been under the U.S. flag since 1898 and became citizens in 1950, 
and the Virgin Islands, whose people came under the flag in 1917 and 
became citizens in 1927, are ineligible.
  Why the loyalty and dedication of the citizens of these two 
territories goes unrewarded while others assume benefits, including 
noncitizens resident in this country? Who knows. But we want to fix it, 
and this is one of the things that we can fix, and we can fix today.
  I urge my colleagues to join me in extending the SSI benefit to the 
two insular territories of Guam and the Virgin Islands.


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