Congress is expected to begin consideration of federal legislation to grant Puerto Rico extraordinary powers to escape a looming debt crisis. The island territory, home to just 3 million people, is faced with a massive $70 billion debt burden.
During negotiations of the omnibus budget deal at the end of 2015, House Republican Speaker Rep. Paul Ryan promised House Democrat Leader Rep. Nancy Pelosi that Congress would consider legislation to grant the Island with bankruptcy protection from its debts. The tentative deadline to begin action was March 31.
The House Natural Resources Committee is drafting a rescue package for Puerto Rico. Hearings on the measure will begin this week. The House conservative Republican Study Committee blasted an early draft of the Puerto Rico legislation, calling it a “bankruptcy-style involuntary restructuring.”
“The discussion draft legislation regarding Puerto Rico’s fiscal situation includes provisions that essentially provide for a federally forced restructuring the island’s debt,” Rep. Bill Flores, Chair of the RSC, said in a statement. “This approach is inconsistent with the Republican Study Committee’s position on this issue.”
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