House Puerto Rico fix expected soon

HOUSE PUERTO RICO FIX EXPECTED SOON — POLITICO’s Colin Wilhelm reports: A discussion draft of a bill from the House Natural Resources Committee to prevent Puerto Rico from defaulting on its $73 billion in bond debt is expected next week. The committee has already scheduled a hearing and mark up for April 13-14.

"The time is running out of the hourglass," Rep. Cynthia Lummis (R-Wy.) told POLITICO this week, adding that she'd expected to see text by now. "I think that because I haven't seen it we're obviously going to defer this into April, which is later than I expected."

House members of on both ends of the political spectrum appear to be coalescing over some sort of broad Congressional action to prevent default. Lummis, a member of the conservative House Freedom Caucus as well as the Natural Resources panel, and Rep. Jose Serrano, a senior House Democrat of Puerto Rican descent who has been an active voice during the debt crisis, both agreed that some broad action had to be taken by legislators, though it remains to be seen whether both sides can agree on the details.

DEMS: NO ‘COLONIAL SITUATION' — Democrats are “trying to create where Puerto Rico can work out its problems with the help of the federal government with the understanding that there has to be some accounting, if you will, for its actions, but not to create more of a colonial situation," by imposing a control board over the island, Serrano said.

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House Puerto Rico fix expected soon

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