Equal access to welfare systems such as SSI would revitalize their economy and improve natural disaster preparation and responses.

In short, the economic downturn in Puerto Rico has been exacerbated by natural disasters. Many of the island’s residents need government assistance. Even as Americans, Puerto Rican residents are excluded from federal programs created for Americans in need: Supplemental Security Income (SSI), SNAP, and Medicare Part D Low-Income Subsidy (LIS).

On April 10, 2020, the First Circuit held that the categorical exclusion of otherwise eligible Puerto Rican residents from SSI violated the Equal Protection Clause of the Fifth Amendment, finding eligibility based on the differentiation in status not to be rationally related to a legitimate government interest. 17 The ruling in Vaello-Madero guided much of the District Court of Puerto Rico’s analysis in Martínez, which looked not only at Puerto Rico’s access to SSI, but also its access to SNAP and Medicare Part DLIS benefits.18 In Peña-Martínez, the Court held it was unconstitutional discrimination to deny eligible residents of Puerto Rico access to SSI, SNAP, and LIS benefits solely due to their residency in Puerto Rico.19 The District Court declared, “[T]o be blunt, the federal government discriminates against Americans who live in Puerto Rico.”20 While both decisions are major victories for Puerto Rican residents, the U.S. government’s appeals in Vaello-Madero and Peña-Martínez are pending before the U.S. Supreme Court and the First Circuit, respectively.

Although restricted access to federal benefits is not the root cause of economic disparity on the island, it has exacerbated the conditions of poverty and hindered its economic recovery. If Puerto Rico is granted the same access to federal funding and federal public benefit programs as states in the mainland are, there would be improved disaster planning, a quicker response for disaster relief, and an increase in economic assistance and work training resources that could bring Puerto Rican residents out of poverty. This paper examines the limited access Puerto Rico’s residents have to federal benefits such as SNAP, SSI, and Federal Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) to determine how these limitations have exacerbated the high poverty rate in Puerto Rico and impacted post Hurricane Maria relief efforts on the island. Part II briefly discusses the poverty statistics in Puerto Rico pre- and post- Hurricane Maria. Next, Part III identifies the differences between federal public benefits programs implemented in Puerto Rico and the contiguous U.S. Finally, Part IV analyzes how implementing SNAP, Federal EITC, or statehood would improve the economic recovery of the island