First modification:
In a decision that affects Puerto Ricans living on the Caribbean island, the US Supreme Court did not extend coverage of social programs to low-income people with disabilities, the elderly and the blind. The island’s governor reacted by calling for the colonialist treatment to cease and for the island to become a US state.
In a setback for Puerto Ricans, the US Supreme Court has rejected expanding a federal entitlement program to the island. The program seeks to provide benefits to low-income elderly, blind and disabled people.
The Supreme Court judges ruled 8 to 1 in considering that Congress has the authority to prevent those living in US territories from receiving the same aid as states do and determined that it acted constitutionally.
The ruling was a speech by conservative Justice Brett Kavanaugh and reversed a previous lower court decision that, according to a 1972 Congressional decision, it was not possible to exclude Puerto Rico from the Supplemental Security Income program, SSI, since it would violate a requirement of the US Constitution that laws apply equally to all.
This decision denies social benefits to some 300,000 people on the island. According to the federal government, an expansion that would cover Puerto Rico would cost about 2,000 million dollars a year.
The appeal was originally filed by the administration of former President Donald Trump. The Biden administration continued the process while also urging Congress to extend SSI to Puerto Rico.
For speaker Kavanaugh, a ruling that extends the benefits to Puerto Rico could bring “far-reaching consequences” that would affect the pockets of Puerto Ricans, since they would have to pay federal income tax, something that does not happen at present. “The Constitution does not require that extreme outcome,” Kavanaugh stressed.
The liberal judge, Sonia Sotomayor, whose parents were from Puerto Rico, was the only one who voted against the project. She said that since the island does not have electoral representation in Congress, her people cannot trust Congress to recognize their rights and said that “equal treatment of citizens should not be left to the whims of the political process.”
An unprecedented reaction
The governor of Puerto Rico, Pedro Pierluisi, in an unusual statement for a politician of that rank on the island, took sides and said “the same thing happens in other transcendental programs, such as Medicaid, Medicare and nutritional assistance. Enough of this colonial status that discriminates against us and affects our quality of life. The only and best solution is statehood,” referring to becoming another US state
My expressions on the decision of the Supreme Court of the United States in relation to the Supplemental Security Income (SSI) program pic.twitter.com/ItHZeSfgkU
— Governor Pierluisi (@GovPierluisi) April 21, 2022
The governor and his New Progressive Party want the total annexation of Puerto Rico to the United States and end the current status of Free Associated State.
The situation in Puerto Rico is an issue that divides its inhabitants; there are some in favor of remaining a US territory, others want the island to become the 51st state of the United States, and some want full independence from the American union.
Puerto Ricans treated as if they were not Americans
One of its 67-year-old residents, Jose Luis Vaello Madero, received SSI benefits when he lived in New York, but when he moved to Puerto Rico in 2013 he lost eligibility. The government sued him in federal court in Washington in 2017, seeking to recover more than $28,000 in payments he received after moving to the island.
For Vaello’s lawyer, Hermann Ferre, the Court’s ruling “it is unfortunate that the court has not seen the discrimination faced by the most needy Puerto Rican Americans whose only distinguishing feature is that they decide to remain in Puerto Rico, their home in American soil. This is a devastating day for Mr. Vaello Madero and for Puerto Rico,” he stressed.
Puerto Ricans residing on the island have complained for years of receiving worse treatment than other Americans, despite being US citizens. Puerto Rico is the most populous of the US territories, with some 3 million people.
The Supreme Court has always decided on the legal status of Puerto Ricans, with decisions from a century ago that are called Insular Cases and some are riddled with racist language. These decisions supported that the inhabitants of the territories had a different treatment from the citizens who lived in the North American states.
SSI benefits are only available for the 50 states, but not for the territories of Puerto Rico, US Virgin Islands, and Guam.
The Joe Biden administration is seeking to extend SSI benefits to Puerto Rico as part of social spending legislation backed by Democrats, but the initiative has stalled in Congress.
With Reuters and EFE
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