Date: 1987-12-15
Speaker: DE LUGO (democrat)
Chamber: H

Mr. Chairman. the Family Welfare Reform Act of 1987 would take a step toward righting the least defensible and cruelest wrong of our current welfare system that I know of: discrimination against the needy among the 3.5 million Americans of the insular areas. The bill. H.R. 1720. would raise the amount of funds provided Guam. the Virgin Islands. and Puerto Rico for Aid to Families with Dependent Children. the aged. the blind. and the disabled. It would also provide assistance for the first time to America Samoa. The provisions respond to a recommendation made by the Subcommittee on Insular and International Affairs which I chair early in the year that was endorsed by the full Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs. supported by the Committee on the Budget. and resulted in action by the Committee on Ways and Means. I want to thank Chairman UDALL and Boa LAGOMARSINO of the Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs. Chairman GRAY and MIKE LOWRY of the Committee on the Budget. Chairman ROSTENKOWSKI. TOM DOWNEY. HAROLD FORD. HANK BROWN. and BRAIN DONNELLY of the Committee on Ways and Means. and other Members who actively supported my efforts and those of our other colleagues from the insular areas: FOFO SUNIA. JAIME FUSTER. and BEN BLAz. The current discrimination exists because there is an artificial limit on the amount of funds provided Guam. the Virgin Islands. and Puerto Rico for aid to families with dependent children on top of the normal limits of the program. because these islands have not been included in the Supplemental Security Income Program but instead receive assistance under the old programs that it replaced. and because American Samoa receives no assistance for these needs. What is most wrong about this inequitable treatment is that pressing human needs are not met. There are. however. other unfortunate consequences. A strong message is being sent to the insular areas that their political relationships with the rest of the Nation are unfair and ought to be changed. Needy islanders feel compelled to move to the States where they can receive assistance equal to that provided their fellow Americans. Our Nations image is undermined in the strategic Caribbean and Pacific regions by discrimination against the American minorities who live in the Nations insular borders. After years of effort on my part and that of my colleagues from the insular areas and other Members. the insular areas are finally being treated equitably under most Federal programs. I find it ironic. though. that discrimination still exists in several which provide essential assistance to the most needy. I recognize that unprecedented deficit pressures on the Federal budget make this a time for cuttting rather than enlarging programs. I know that equitable treatment in these programs for insular America would be costly. Nonetheless. equitable treatment of the insular needy. who now receive just a fraction of the assistance provided their fellow Americans. is -a rights issue that remains one of my highest priorities. This bill would take small step closer to equitable treatment by raising the cap on assistance for families with dependent children. and the aged. blind. and disabled in Guam. Puerto Rico. and the Virgin Islands which we were last able to raise in 1979. It would provide American Samoa with aid to families with dependent children assistance. The $3.3 million provided Guam would be increased by $425.000. the $72 million provided Puerto Rico would be increased by $9.270.000. the $2.4 million provided the Virgin Islands would be increased by $309.000. and American Samoa would be provided $1 million each year. In comparison to the costs. of equitable treatment. these are small steps. Still. as the first steps possible in 8 years they are important ones. More important. they will help some of the neediest people under our flag. I ask the support of this House for this increase. I also ask my colleagues to work with me for further steps towared equitable treatment of the needy among the Americans of the U.S. insular areas.