Congress and the administration owe the people of Puerto Rico more than lip service

Puerto Rico does not need a fiscal control board that would destroy the Commonwealth's ability to provide essential services to its people. A fiscal control board designed to create a new government "of the hedge funds, by the hedge funds, and for the hedge funds," is an affront to basic democratic principles.
Congress has recently taken an unprecedented interest on Puerto Rico issues. This week alone, two congressional committees are holding hearings on the subject.
Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) set a March deadline for Congress to address the Island’s fiscal crisis. After decades of 'benign neglect,' pressure from special interest groups will probably push Congress to impose a fiscal control board on the Commonwealth. 
Fiscal control boards were imposed on New York City during the 1970's, and Washington DC in the 1990's. They have been premised, to a large extent, on an unwillingness of a government to make politically unfeasible decisions to solve its financial woes.
But that is not the case in Puerto Rico.
Even before the current administration was sworn in, Moody's slapped us on our collective faces. Their December 13, 2012 report downgraded Puerto Rico's general obligation bonds, and assigned a negative outlook on the Island's economic situation.
Moody's partly blamed the downgrade on the previous administration's inability to reform the Commonwealth's severely underfunded retirement systems.
Three months into our term, the legislature passed a controversial bill to reform the government's retirement system. During the Christmas holiday, an even more controversial bill for pension reform was passed, in this case, for teachers and judges.
Taxes were also raised in order to counter the effects of an irresponsible law passed in 2011 by the then Republican governor of Puerto Rico.
Moreover, a controversial energy reform act was passed recently regarding the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority (PREPA), a debt-ridden public utility, which includes an unprecedented securitization of most of its $9 billion debt; a consensual agreement reached while lacking the benefits of an orderly process of bankruptcy, since Congress denied that benefit in 1984.
These are just some of the politically costly decisions that Puerto Rico has taken in the past few years to deal with its fiscal problems. Based on these examples, if an inability to assume difficult decisions is the basic justification of a fiscal control board, then no such mechanism is necessary.
What could be driving, then, this effort towards the imposition of a fiscal control board?
The reasons appear to be more nefarious than claims that the Island won’t take additional austerity measures.
Hedge funds and institutional bondholders want to get paid in full. Considering the upcoming debt service levels, a fiscal control board could bypass our local Constitution (yes, we have a Constitution: big difference with New York City and DC), in order to pay bondholders, while slashing government spending on essential services.
The government of Puerto Rico has declared that its public debt is unpayable. We have been advocating for Congress and the Obama administration to provide us the tools so that we may enter into an orderly process of debt restructuring.
Professor Arturo Estrella, a former economist at the Federal Reserve Bank, authored a study that illustrates several courses of action that may be taken by the Department of the Treasury and the Fed. The (now shrinking) population of almost 3.5 million U.S. citizens in Puerto Rico deserve more from this Administration than 'technical assistance' or repeated calls for action on proposals that have been deemed dead-in-the-water by Congressional leadership.
The Obama administration may also assist on our economic development by exempting Puerto Rico from the Jones Act of 1920. The 'cabotage laws' (or 'sabotage' laws, for their perverse economic effects), restrict transportation of goods between ports of the United States to U.S.-flag vessels. On an Island highly dependent on imported products, these free market restrictions represent an increase of more than $500 million for Puerto Rico's consumers. This exemption would have no impact to the American taxpayer.
Other examples of much needed executive action include fixing the disparity in Medicaid, and finally addressing the environmental and health crisis caused by the U.S. Navy in Vieques.
We are not requesting a bailout -- as Sen. Elizabeth WarrenElizabeth WarrenStoddard: Bernie, it's time to turn up the heatHarry Reid endorses Clinton Congress and the administration owe the people of Puerto Rico more than lip serviceMORE (D-Mass.) has said, Puerto Rico is not a big bank, so a bailout is unlikely. Puerto Rico just needs the tools to pull ourselves up by our own bootstraps. It is time for the Obama administration, and the Republican Congress, to act.
Nieves, a member of the Popular Democratic party, has served in the Puerto Rico Senate since 2013 as the senator for the District of San Juan. He is the chairman of the Energy and the Banking, Insurance and Telecommunications committees.
By Puerto Rico Sen. Ramón Luis Nieves (PPD)

Congress and the administration owe the people of Puerto Rico more than lip service

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