Puerto Rico faces a host of daunting challenges, including chronically high poverty (especially among children), low labor force participation, over a decade of economic decline, an unsustainably high debt burden, and the lingering effects of the devastating hurricanes of 2017 that makes its long-term prosperity that much harder to attain.

To address these challenges, the Commonwealth needs a comprehensive economic package that centers around powerful tools such as the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) – which goes to low- and moderate-income working people, encourages work, and is one of the nation’s most effective anti-poverty programs.

Close to 43 percent of the Commonwealth’s population lives in poverty, more than double the poverty rate of Mississippi. Child poverty is even higher at nearly 57 percent.

That’s why proposals in Congress to provide federal support for Puerto Rico’s EITC are so important to the Commonwealth’s future.