More Welfare for Puerto Rico

[Ecuajey]

Acevedo Vila Seeks More Welfare Money for the "Americans" of Puerto Rico[/i]

April 26, 2002
Copyright © 2002 THE PUERTO RICO HERALD.
All Rights Reserved.[/i]

Resident Commissioner Acevedo Vila has proposed more welfare funds for the "Americans" of Puerto Rico. The Delegates to the U.S. House of Representatives from the U.S. Virgin Islands and Guam joined him in proposing legislation to increase welfare spending in all three territories. The legislation would exempt aspects of the main federal welfare program, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), from the limits (or "caps") on funding in the territories.

Acevedo titled the legislation "A bill to provide access to welfare tools to help Americans get back to work." The title is ironic since Governor Calderon, who handpicked Acevedo for the job, takes pains to say that citizens of the Commonwealth are "Puerto Ricans who are U.S. citizens" and not "Americans."

The funding caps limit program spending in the territories to a fraction of state-like funding, which provides whatever funds are necessary to cover the number of welfare recipients in a state. The cap on Puerto Rico funding limits federal contributions to $107 million a year. It was raised from $79 million by the Clinton Administration’s Welfare Reform. In 1996, the General Accounting Office estimated that the cap provided $100 million less than State-like funding.

The legislation seeks to avoid the caps by exempting specific aspects of the program from the caps rather than to increase the caps. It would exclude the following program elements from the caps: the TANF Supplemental Grant for Population Increases; the TANF Contingency Fund; Child Care Entitlement Funds; Foster Care Payments; and Medicaid Transitional Medical Assistance. Acevedo says that exclusion could mean an additional $61 million a year.

The territorial representatives introduced the bill in the wake of President Bush’s proposal to tighten TANF’s work requirements.

Acevedo’s sponsorship of the legislation is ironic since Governor Calderon said when she was running for governor that she would not seek more welfare funds for Puerto Rico. She made the statement after the Clinton White House and Acevedo’s predecessor, Carlos Romero Barcelo (statehood party/Democrat), announced a proposal to increase the cap on Medicaid spending in Puerto Rico. The legislation introduced by Acevedo and the two other territorial representatives would increase spending for Medicaid for welfare recipients in Puerto Rico and the other territories. The three representatives and the Delegate from American Samoa have also introduced a bill to raise the Medicaid caps in all five territories (the Northern Mariana Islands as well as American Samoa, Guam, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and Puerto Rico).

[tylito]

So when are the Puerto Ricans going to start paying federal taxes. You think that there a lot of puerto ricans in the world now? Wait until the hand outs increase. "More babies, bigger check" the uneducated teen mother contemplates. How would Mr. and Mrs. American taxpayer feel knowing that they are support a nation with their hard earned tax dollars, while the citizens of that nation contribute nothing to the funds that they feel so entitled to. Puerto Rico needs to become independent an stop being satisfied with being a colony of the U.S. If Jamaica, Cuba and Hati can stand on their own then the puerto ricans can do it too. Unless the Puerto Ricans are just used to and enjoy being lazy and procreating yearly.

[Ecuajey]

Originally posted by tylito
So when are the Puerto Ricans going to start paying federal taxes. You think that there a lot of puerto ricans in the world now? Wait until the hand outs increase. "More babies, bigger check" the uneducated teen mother contemplates. How would Mr. and Mrs. American taxpayer feel knowing that they are support a nation with their hard earned tax dollars, while the citizens of that nation contribute nothing to the funds that they feel so entitled to. Puerto Rico needs to become independent an stop being satisfied with being a colony of the U.S. If Jamaica, Cuba and Hati can stand on their own then the puerto ricans can do it too. Unless the Puerto Ricans are just used to and enjoy being lazy and procreating yearly.

I'm a staunch advocate of independence for Puerto Rico and the cutting of the USA welfare rolles to the island, but it's one thing to hear that from a Puerto Rican and another from some foreigner who knows nothing of our realities.

First of all, the birth rate in Puerto Rico is actually decreasing and has been decreasing for about a decade. The only thing that keeps the island population increasing significantly is immigration from Dominicans, Mexicans, Argentines, Cubans, Venezuelans, mainland Puerto Ricans, and rich American retirees and businessmen.

Also, Puerto Rico does contribute more to the USA than vice versa. Puerto Rico recieves $18 billion a year. However, USA multi-national corporations, including 2,300 industrial plants, make about $63 billion totaloff of PR. The pharmaceutical industry, the largest on the island, profits $28 billion off the island, produces 25% of the total value of USA pharmaceutical shipments, and 16 out of the top 20 pharmaceutical drugs are produced on the island. Also, Puerto Rico is not allowed to trade directly with most nations, so it must receive its goods straight from the USA. So Puerto Rico is charged many, many times more than what the USA paid for them from other countries, such as China and Japan. Also, these goods must be sent through the USA shipping marines, which are the most expensive in the world. Thus, the USA is making billions and billions off of PR as a colony, allowing the people think it’s "supporting" her.

About those federal income taxes? Well, there are very few families in Puerto Rico who don't have relatives on the mainland USA. Since the 80's many have returned to the island or have moved back and forth. Therefore, many have homes and businesses in the USA. Therefore, they must pay federal property tax and all federal employees in PR must pay their federal income taxes. Again, the reason PR is being kept as a colony is because the USA enjoys making money off her and the over 200,000 jobs in the mainland linked to the PR economy, and with a 6.4% unemployment rate in the USA they are politically needed.

[Edited by Ecuajey on 4th July 2003 at 06:33]

[tylito]

I feel a bit foolish now. I was wondering why the U.S. would not drop P.R. But thanks to your information I can understand why America is holding on. There are a lot more incentives than just Vieaquez, I can't spell the name of that island used by the military. I apologise for sounding like a biggot. My husband and my son's are Puerto Rican. And I love my in-laws. They are all hard working, family loving people. My post was out of anger and ignorance. I just get disgusted by people who use children and welfare hand outs as perpetual meal tickets. I misread your post as being pro welfare dependency and entitliment. But I feel that you understand that in the long run the hand outs do more harm than good, because the recipients are trapped in poverty and the cycle perpetuates for generations. Once again I'm sorry for offending any one. I'm just jealous because it is so hard for me to learn Spanish.

[Ecuajey]

Originally posted by tylito
I feel a bit foolish now. My husband and my son's are Puerto Rican. And I love my in-laws. They are all hard working, family loving people. Once again I'm sorry for offending any one. I'm just jealous because it is so hard for me to learn Spanish.

Let me quote some of your sentences:

"If Jamaica, Cuba and Hati can stand on their own then the puerto ricans can do it too."

A comment like this seems like you're mocking PR capability to stand on its own. Those nations you mentioned are disasters.

"Unless the Puerto Ricans are just used to and enjoy being lazy and procreating yearly."

You plainly write "Puerto Ricans" instead of the welfare recipients. Therefore, you generalized all Puerto Ricans as being lazy. Show your post to your husband, sons, and in-laws and see how they interpret it. Just because it's hard for you to learn Spanish doesn't mean you need to go on a Puerto Rican-bashing rampage, lol.

Anyway, here are some websites that could help you in Spanish. Take care.

http://www.freetranslation.com
This website will help you translate some Spanish words you don't know, but don't trust it when it comes to writing sentences or posts, because they come out not making sense.

http://www.verbix.com/languages/spanish.shtml
This website will help you know the conjugation of every Spanish word, from infinitive, to future tense, the past tenses, the command form...etc

http://www.studyspanish.com
This website will help you with the grammar. Go to the links on the Curriculum section.

http://www.endi.com
A Puerto Rican newspaper; it's useful in practicing your Spanish.