Without elaborating on details, the governor Wanda Vázquez Garced and the resident commissioner Jenniffer González They reiterated this Tuesday that they are working on a common agenda to advance the distribution of the federal funds that Puerto Rico has received in aid to the coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19).
“Many of these funds, when signed by the president, we do not have immediately here, deposited in the accounts of the government,” said the governor.
Vázquez Garced argued that one of the main purposes of the meetings is to establish what are the guidelines and requirements that each agency that has assigned funds must comply with, to be received and distributed.
In this sense, both the governor and the commissioner have been meeting with the different agency heads of the executive branch, to examine “what is the particular requirement that each of them requires and in which she (the commissioner) can assist us” said Vázquez Garced.
For his part, González indicated that there are already over $ 5.5 billion in federal funds approved for Puerto Rico exclusively in the context of the emergency by COVID-19 “that must be available immediately.” He indicated that part of that money is what has been distributed by the Department of the Treasury.
Precisely, one issue that would be discussed at the meetings is the payment of $ 1,200 by that agency. The commissioner had said that the discussion on how to advance this disbursement for people who have not received it would be one of the main topics in the meetings, but yesterday she did not elaborate.
The Treasury began on May 1, the first phase of the Economic Impact Payment Distribution Plan (CARES Act). The agency reported that today the third disbursement of $ 365.6 million was completed for 231,111 families who would see the money reflected in their accounts between today and tomorrow. So far, total disbursements total nearly $ 923.6 million, for an approximate total of 569,111 families.
For the second phase, the 2018 Return will be used and taxpayers will have to inform their bank account in the link that will be enabled in mid-May. The third phase will cover all people who are not required to file a return and have not been claimed as dependents.
Pensioners, Social Security, PAN beneficiaries, veterans, university students and others who are not required to file returns will also be in this phase. The agency has not reported how these people may request payment.
Both officials also met with the secretary of the Department of Labor and Human Resources (DTRH), Briseida Torres Reyes, to inquire about disbursements to unemployed people during the pandemic crisis, a process that has been deficient, with various problems. in the system enabled for individuals to request aid and with delays in payments, at a time when an economic reopening is already underway after almost two months of preventive closings.
“We appointed the Government CIO (Chief Executive of Innovation and Information) which is Glorimar Ripoll, some problems that were in the programming were identified, they were corrected, so (the payments) are flowing in a much more expeditious way. There is always room for improvement, “said the governor. There was also no concrete evidence of this improvement in the system.
“Every day there may be people who need (help), the important thing is that they can enter the system, that they can register. Once the person registers, a verification process must come, “said Vázquez Garced. “That money is a help, but it will also be audited,” he said, referring to government audits.
Regarding the problem with unemployment funds, the commissioner pointed out that “these meetings also help us identify how deficient the technology system that the agency is using may be to find out if another alternative must be sought.”
“That cannot be an excuse for the government not to look for the mechanisms to do it immediately, and for that there are also federal funds,” he said.
Yesterday, at the beginning of the day of closed-door meetings, the commissioner herself acknowledged that part of that federal money that has reached the government coffers “must be transferred directly to the municipalities that, first, have just received the song of the Law 29, second, they are testing, they are delivering food, they are dealing with the earthquake, and the reality is that municipal employees are doing many of the functions of the state government, today. ” However, neither the commissioner nor the first executive abounded yesterday on that possibility.
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