San Juan Mayor Says 'No One' in Puerto Rico Has Received a COVID-19 Stimulus Check

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

The mayor of San Juan, Puerto Rico, has alleged that none of the island’s eligible residents have received their expected stimulus payments from the federal government.

In an appearance on MSNBC on Saturday, Carmen Yulin Cruz, the mayor of the U.S. territory’s capital city, said the island has not yet benefited from one of the U.S. government’s signature responses to the COVID-19 pandemic: stimulus checks that are intended to put up to $1,200 into the hands of many Americans.

Link to tweet

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Cruz said that the island has been struggling to get resources to the people who need them most and has insufficient equipment and tests to check its residents for the virus. She also said the island has struggled to deliver $500 payments promised by the governor, new requests for food stamps and over 130,000 pending unemployment requests. Cruz and other mayors have had to rely on religious and community leaders to hand out food to citizens in need, she said.

“Money is not getting into people’s hands because of the current local government of Puerto Rico, and perhaps, guidelines that have not been distributed,” said Cruz. “But the problem is not getting the support that we need. The problem is that the support goes to the higher levels of government, and doesn’t reach the people that it’s supposed to reach.”

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/san-juan-mayor-says-no-one-in-puerto-rico-has-received-a-covid-19-stimulus-check/ar-BB13esQD?li=BBnb7Kz

But you got paper towels. Big beautiful paper towels - Donald Trump.

[jimfields33]

1. The population doesn't pay federal taxes

That’s how they sent the checks. The house may need to do a separate bill for the oversight.

[Igel]

3. Or, as I responded to the same type of OP yesterday,

the legislation required that territories outside the US be treated differently and prescribed what steps were necessary.

To distribute the money the funding had to go through the territorial government's treasury. This was known before the bill was passed by the House.

Then there were negotiations--things that the IRS or US Treasury wanted clarification on. After all, oversight.

PR's treasury, the legislation said, had to submit a plan to the US government as to how it would identify recipients and get them they money. The PR treasury was working on it right after the legislation was signed. But it couldn't submit it for approval. That plan was still being worked out last week, the last questions were answered and approval was expected. The PR treasury announced on Thursday that the money would be going out soon.

In other words, of course the money hasn't been distributed. The responsibility is distributed somewhere between the US and PR governments, but since there was an additional step in there, you'd expect it to take longer.

I assume this is another one of those instances where somehow the House had no idea whatsoever what was in the legislation that they carefully looked over and made sure contained no surprises. Or perhaps, as in another case, somehow the legislation got passed without the House ever knowing it was up for consideration. I just don't know sometimes.

And that this is still a surprise after it was explained once ...

[jimfields33]

4. Someone needs to notify the mayor of a city in Puerto Rico that she's just got to wait.

[elleng]

2. The Commonwealth government has its own tax laws

and Puerto Ricans are also required to pay some US federal taxes, although most residents do not have to pay the federal personal income tax. ... Residents also pay federal payroll taxes, such as Social Security and Medicare taxes.'>>>

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taxation_in_Puerto_Rico