The U.S. Treasury has released guidance for the use of COVID-19 recovery funding in Puerto Rico from the new federal Coronavirus Relief Fund, which provides $150 billion for state, territorial, local, and tribal governments as part of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES) Act. Puerto Rico is expected to receive $2.2 billion… Read more »

A significant part of the CARES act, the coronavirus stimulus package recently passed by Congress, is a program of loans for small businesses affected by the pandemic. Under the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), a company with fewer than 500 employees can borrow 2.5 times their payroll, with the possibility of having that loan forgiven if… Read more »

Families and individuals in Puerto Rico should soon begin to receive the coronavirus stimulus checks provided by the CARES act. The official name for this payments is “Economic Impact Payments.” In Puerto Rico, as in the States, people who earned up to $75,000 in 2018 or 2019 (the last year filed) will receive $1,200 for individual… Read more »

The First Circuit court ruled last Friday that the federal government cannot exclude Puerto Rico from Social Security Supplemental Security Income (SSI) payments. In its opinion, the court cited longstanding precedent holding that the U.S. is allowed to treat territories differently from states as long as there is a rational basis for the difference. In… Read more »

A Federal appellate court ruled on Friday that Puerto Ricans are eligible for Federal Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits under the U.S. Constitution. Writing for a unanimous three-judge panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit, Judge Juan R. Torruella concluded that the exclusion of otherwise eligible Puerto Rico residents from… Read more »

Puerto Rico is facing some special challenges when it comes to the response to the pandemic. A shortage of doctors, tests, emergency responders, medical supplies, and funding for the healthcare system combine to make it more difficult for Puerto Rico to handle COVID-19 cases. The governor called for strict curfews early on, keeping the numbers… Read more »

Puerto Rico has seen 24 deaths from the coronavirus, as of this writing, and 620 confirmed cases. This is fewer than many states with similar populations. For example, Arkansas has 1,000 cases,  Iowa has 1049, Utah has 1738, and Nevada has 2216. One reason that Puerto Rico has fewer cases of COVID-19 than states with… Read more »

As of this writing, Puerto Rico has 513 confirmed cases of coronavirus and 15 deaths. However, there is uncertainty over the numbers. The death toll after Hurricane Maria was hard to capture, and estimates varied widely. The uncertainty about numbers for the coronavirus is caused by some of the same issues… but there are additional… Read more »

Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Raul Grijalva (D-AZ), Nydia Velazquez (D-NY), and Joaquin Castro (D-TX) wrote a letter to Vice President Mike Pence, the head of the White House Task Force on Coronavirus, asking what the White House plans to do in support of Puerto Rico during the pandemic. “Because of the ongoing impacts of Hurricanes Irma… Read more »

Cady Stanton of the Washington Monthly has pointed out that the COVID-19 pandemic is putting a spotlight on some problems in the United States. “The coronavirus pandemic has revealed many flaws in America,” she wrote. “It has also reinforced the need to address certain geographic inequities. Case in point: D.C. and Puerto Rico are less equipped… Read more »