CONGRESSMAN MOYLAN REINTRODUCES BIPARTISAN LEGISLATION TO EXTEND SSI BENEFITS TO U.S. TERRITORIES
(Hagåtña, Guam) — Congressman Moylan, alongside Congresswoman Stacey Plaskett (D-U.S. Virgin Islands), Congresswoman Aumua Amata Radewagen (R-American Samoa), and Congressman Pablo José Hernández (D-Puerto Rico), reintroduced the Supplemental Security Income Equality Act which extends Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits to eligible residents of Guam, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and American Samoa. Currently, SSI benefits are available only to residents of the fifty states, the District of Columbia, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI).
“This is about equality—plain and simple,” said Congressman Moylan.“Americans living in the territories should not be treated as second-class citizens. By reintroducing this bipartisan bill, we are standing up for the principle that geography should never determine access to basic federal support. It is long past time for our people to receive the benefits they have been unfairly denied for far too long.”
“I am proud to co-lead the Supplemental Security Income Equality Act with Congressman Moylan to end decades-long disparities in federal benefits eligibility by extending the SSI program to residents in all areas of the United States, including the U.S. territories,” said Congresswoman Plaskett. “This legislation is not only morally imperative but fiscally responsible—without federal SSI support, territorial governments are forced to shoulder these costs alone, straining their limited budgets while providing inadequate assistance to those who need it most. This legislation represents a critical step toward ending the second-class treatment of Americans in the territories, who feel the weight of discrimination when they are automatically denied access to SSI benefits.”
“SSI is for the aged, blind, and disabled with low incomes—the neediest of the needy—and it is available to citizens in the 50 states and the CNMI, but not the other territories,” said Congresswoman Radewagen. “As with Social Security and Medicaid, SSI is an essential service that should not be determined by geography. Thank you to my friend Congressman Moylan for this good legislation.”
“Roughly 22% of Puerto Ricans are living with a disability, yet they are unjustly excluded from the Supplemental Security Income program, simply because of where they live,” said Congressman Hernández. “This bipartisan legislation ensures that the most vulnerable among us, including the elderly with little or no income, those with blindness, and people with disabilities in the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, Guam, American Samoa, and the U.S. Virgin Islands, receive the same benefits as their fellow citizens in the states. This vital extension would also finally allow Puerto Rican children with disabilities, who have long been excluded, to receive the federal assistance they urgently need. I am proud to co-lead this bill with Rep. Moylan to right this wrong.”
“I thank my co-leads Congresswoman Plaskett, Congresswoman Radewagen, and Congressman Hernández for their bipartisan partnership on this bill, and I look forward to moving it through the legislative process,” concluded Congressman Moylan.
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