The Supreme Court heard arguments on a potential landmark case looking into whether it’s constitutional to deny federal benefits to aging and disabled U.S. citizens living in Puerto Rico, even though they can access them if they live on the mainland.
to establish “a rational basis for the exclusion of Puerto Rico residents from SSI coverage.”
Liberal Justice Sonia Sotomayor, who is of Puerto Rican descent, pushed back, saying that Puerto Ricans "pay as much taxes, other combined taxes, as other states in the union."and help fund public programs such as Medicare and Social Security, contributing more than $4 billion annually in federal taxes to the United States.
Differences in taxation limit Puerto Ricans on the island in other ways, including the lack of voting representation in Congress and the inability to vote in U.S. presidential elections, among other restrictions when it comes to accessing federal safety net programs. “I don’t understand what the different relationship with Puerto Rico has to do with this program because there’s no cost to the government,” she said. “The money’s going directly to the people, not to the government.”
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