Noticel By: Oscar J. Serrano Posted: Aug 03, 2020 07:24 PMUpdated
Massachusetts federal judge William G. Young ruled today that the U.S. Government violates the constitutional rights of Puerto Rico residents when it denies the application to the island of three welfare programs in the same manner as they apply to residents of the states.
This is the second ruling to be recorded in this direction. The other case, United States v. Vaello-Madero, involved the application of the Supplemental Security Income (SSI, a Social Security program), was decided by the Chief Judge of the United States District Court for the District of Puerto Rico, Gustavo A. Gelpí, and was upheld by a decision of the First Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston. Even so, Social Security has refused to comply with the injunction and has even brought a new case, filed after the ruling, precisely to force them to comply with the ruling.
The case decided by Judge Young today encompasses not only SSI, but also the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and the Medicare Part D Low Income Subsidy (LIS). The judge's reasoning was similar and is controlled by the appellate decision in Vaello Madero.
"The federal social safety net is weaker and more porous in Puerto Rico than in the rest of the nation," the judge stated in his brief that prohibits the federal government from enforcing the regulations of those programs in a way that excludes Puerto Rico residents and deprives them of their full application. This is tempered by his concession to the federal government's request that the judgment not apply for the next 60 days, except that the judge ordered that it apply immediately for the nine plaintiffs in this case filed in April 2018.
The federal government's justifications for the discriminatory treatment were similar to those presented in the Vaello Madero case: that Puerto Rico residents are generally exempt from paying federal taxes, that the costs of extending the programs would be too high for the federal treasury, and that fully implementing the programs could cause a disruption in Puerto Rico's economy. The latter translates into an understanding that the additional money would prevent economic development and increase public dependency.
"[G]iving needy U.S. citizens equal access to the SSI, SNAP and LIS program networks simply because they reside in Puerto Rico is unconstitutional, an affront to our American ideal of fairness," Young said.
The judge stressed, however, that to the extent that the federal government has given some type of treatment to Puerto Rico under those programs, his decision should not result in the island receiving more money than it is entitled to, but that the federal government should make adjustments to change the current allocation to the full allocation that represents equal treatment. "The (U.S.) Constitution requires equality, not duplicate benefits," he said.
According to data included in the judge's ruling, equal treatment under the SSI program would mean that Puerto Rico residents would receive between $1.5 billion and $1.8 billion annually, instead of the $24 million they receive now. In the case of the LIS program (which covers drug costs under Medicare), some 493,984 residents would benefit from the program. As for SNAP, the program's coverage could reach 1,140,000 households compared to the approximately 700,000 covered by the regular Nutrition Assistance program.