Legislation would also modernize decades-old program rules, raising asset limits and benefit levels nationwide
HAGÅTÑA — Congressman James Moylan has joined a bipartisan group of lawmakers in introducing legislation that would extend Supplemental Security Income benefits to residents of Guam and other U.S. territories for the first time, ending a decades-long exclusion that has left disabled and elderly Americans in the territories without access to a program available to their counterparts on the mainland.
Moylan co-introduced the Supplemental Security Income Restoration Act on Wednesday alongside Representative Adelita Grijalva (D-Ariz.), Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Representative Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.). Warren is leading the legislation in the Senate.
“For decades, disabled Guamanians have been denied access to Supplemental Security Income,” Moylan said. “Not because they are less disabled. Not because they are less American. But simply because of where they live.”
SSI provides monthly financial assistance to individuals who are blind, disabled or age 65 and older with limited income and resources. Approximately 7.4 million Americans rely on the program nationwide, but eligible residents of Guam and other territories have remained excluded despite holding U.S. citizenship.
Moylan said the exclusion hits families on Guam in concrete ways, forcing parents caring for adult children with severe disabilities, veterans living with life-altering conditions and individuals unable to work to rely entirely on family support rather than the federal program available to other Americans in similar circumstances.
Beyond extending coverage to the territories, the bill would update several program rules that have not been significantly revised since the 1970s. The legislation would raise asset limits to $10,000 for individuals and $20,000 for couples, update income exclusions so beneficiaries can work without immediately losing eligibility, raise benefit levels to 100 percent of the federal poverty line, eliminate the marriage penalty for couples receiving SSI and remove penalties for in-kind support such as food or housing provided by family members.
Grijalva said the modernization provisions are as important as the territorial expansion. “This bill will increase benefit amounts and asset limits so that having a minor savings account doesn’t disqualify you from getting benefits,” she said. “It will rid the punitive reductions in benefits and streamline the claiming process.”
Warren framed the territorial expansion as a matter of long-overdue equity. “It is long overdue for people from Guam and Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, and American Samoa to get SSI benefits as well,” she said.
Moylan pledged to continue pushing for the bill’s passage. “Our residents serve in uniform, pay federal taxes, and pledge allegiance to the same flag,” he said. “Yet the system meant to support our most vulnerable Americans still leaves many in Guam on the outside looking in.”
