The Chairman of the Board of Directors of the organization sent a letter to the Democratic leadership of the Federal Capital.
Saturday, February 20, 2021 - 3:36 p.m.
Washington D.C. - The Puerto Rico Hotel and Tourism Association urged the Congressional majority leadership to support the inclusion of the island's residents in the Supplemental Security Income (SSI) program.
The president of the organization's Board of Directors, Joaquín Bolívar III, sent a letter to federal legislative leaders this week, at a time when the government of Joe Biden must decide whether to request the withdrawal of the challenge made by the administration of Donald Trump to a decision of the First Circuit Court of Appeals that opens the door to access to SSI for island residents.
"Our Association sees SSI as an earned right that will benefit the elderly and disabled who do not have many options to increase their income. The inclusion of Puerto Ricans as SSI beneficiaries is not only a mechanism to contribute to their well-being but also to support the devastated local economy," Bolívar said in his letter, which he referred to Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Senate Democratic Majority Leader Charles Schumer, Puerto Rican Democratic Congresswomen Nydia Velázquez, Darren Soto and Ritchie Torres, and Senators Robert Menéndez, Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders, among others.
Bolívar said that his organization sought to join the initiative of the president of the Puerto Rico House of Representatives, Rafael Hernández Montañez, who is one of the politicians who has called on Joe Biden's administration to withdraw the certiorari filed by Donald Trump's administration to challenge the decision of the First Circuit Court of Appeals.
For the fifth time, the justices of the U.S. Supreme Court had on Friday on their agenda to discuss the certiorari they received since last August.
Bolivar told the Democratic legislators that with a majority in the House of Representatives and the Senate, he hopes they will seek to "eradicate the disparate and unequal treatment for all U.S. citizens who wish to reside on the island and at the same time provide a benefit to our economy.