Democrats play up Puerto Rico's 'human' crisis before new bill
Congressional Democrats circled their wagons on Tuesday, a day before Republicans unveil an updated Puerto Rico debt bill, by focusing attention on the island's humanitarian crisis while hinting at an unwanted bailout if the legislation fails to pass.
The bill stalled before it could even reach a vote in the House Natural Resource Committee (HNRC) last month.
Leading up to the latest draft, Democrats are voicing complaints and highlighting the island's growing humanitarian crisis in a potential nod toward future bailout efforts.
The island faces $70 billion in total debt, as well as economy-killing emigration and a staggering 45 percent poverty rate. To be sure, Democrats say they have not seen the latest draft of the bill.
Raul Grijalva, the Democratic leader of the HNRC, told Reuters during a visit to Puerto Rico on Tuesday the bill must protect Puerto Rico's pension holders "the same as everyone else," and avoid lowering the minimum wage.
"You're asking what the sticklers are - it's minimum wage and pensions," he told Reuters in an exclusive interview.
HNRC Chairman Rob Bishop, a Utah Republican, told Reuters on Monday his committee would unveil a new draft of Puerto Rico legislation on Wednesday, having worked closely with the U.S. Treasury to reshape the language of the earlier draft legislation.
Bishop, however, said the new version of the bill would follow the framework of an earlier draft that puts the U.S. territory's finances under federal oversight and lets the island cut debt through a bankruptcy-like restructuring process.
But failure to pass a bill by July 1, when Puerto Rico owes $1.9 billion in debt payments its governor has said it cannot pay, risks hastening the biggest default yet on the island of 3.5 million Americans.
On Tuesday in Washington, Steny Hoyer, the No. 2 Democrat in the U.S. House of Representatives, told reporters Democrats remained concerned over minimum wage as well as the makeup of the oversight board.
"I have some thoughts that the concerns that have been raised by... Democrats in the House and the Senate are still not addressed in a way that might lead us to support the bill," Hoyer said.
POLITICAL TOUR
Grijalva toured Centro Medico, Puerto Rico's main public hospital, where funding gaps have led to a shortage of medical equipment and left two-hundred nursing positions unfilled. He told Reuters the trip was an effort to show people "there's a whole human side" to the island's crisis.
His visit is one day after U.S. Treasury Secretary Jack Lew's tour of the same hospital. Lew told reporters it is hard to get Congress to act "unless you're at a moment of necessity and sometimes crisis, and what I'm saying is, we are now at a moment of necessity and crisis."
While the committee's current bill would not provide any federal taxpayer money to stabilize the island's economy, Grijalva suggested that if Congress failed to act he "would be supportive of a humanitarian relief package for Puerto Rico, beginning with healthcare."
Democratic Senator Chuck Schumer on Tuesday said "We're going to have to do something about Puerto Rico," adding, "The best thing to do is to allow them to restructure... but our Republican colleagues have thus far resisted that."
Lew on Monday called restructuring "the alternative to a bailout." In the past he has said that if restructuring can't work, "you either have chaos or a bailout."
Bishop said he would vote against a bailout, which would likely face severe pushback from Republicans.
Democrats play up Puerto Rico's 'human' crisis before new bill
The bill stalled before it could even reach a vote in the House Natural Resource Committee (HNRC) last month.
Leading up to the latest draft, Democrats are voicing complaints and highlighting the island's growing humanitarian crisis in a potential nod toward future bailout efforts.
The island faces $70 billion in total debt, as well as economy-killing emigration and a staggering 45 percent poverty rate. To be sure, Democrats say they have not seen the latest draft of the bill.
Raul Grijalva, the Democratic leader of the HNRC, told Reuters during a visit to Puerto Rico on Tuesday the bill must protect Puerto Rico's pension holders "the same as everyone else," and avoid lowering the minimum wage.
"You're asking what the sticklers are - it's minimum wage and pensions," he told Reuters in an exclusive interview.
HNRC Chairman Rob Bishop, a Utah Republican, told Reuters on Monday his committee would unveil a new draft of Puerto Rico legislation on Wednesday, having worked closely with the U.S. Treasury to reshape the language of the earlier draft legislation.
Bishop, however, said the new version of the bill would follow the framework of an earlier draft that puts the U.S. territory's finances under federal oversight and lets the island cut debt through a bankruptcy-like restructuring process.
But failure to pass a bill by July 1, when Puerto Rico owes $1.9 billion in debt payments its governor has said it cannot pay, risks hastening the biggest default yet on the island of 3.5 million Americans.
On Tuesday in Washington, Steny Hoyer, the No. 2 Democrat in the U.S. House of Representatives, told reporters Democrats remained concerned over minimum wage as well as the makeup of the oversight board.
"I have some thoughts that the concerns that have been raised by... Democrats in the House and the Senate are still not addressed in a way that might lead us to support the bill," Hoyer said.
POLITICAL TOUR
Grijalva toured Centro Medico, Puerto Rico's main public hospital, where funding gaps have led to a shortage of medical equipment and left two-hundred nursing positions unfilled. He told Reuters the trip was an effort to show people "there's a whole human side" to the island's crisis.
His visit is one day after U.S. Treasury Secretary Jack Lew's tour of the same hospital. Lew told reporters it is hard to get Congress to act "unless you're at a moment of necessity and sometimes crisis, and what I'm saying is, we are now at a moment of necessity and crisis."
While the committee's current bill would not provide any federal taxpayer money to stabilize the island's economy, Grijalva suggested that if Congress failed to act he "would be supportive of a humanitarian relief package for Puerto Rico, beginning with healthcare."
Democratic Senator Chuck Schumer on Tuesday said "We're going to have to do something about Puerto Rico," adding, "The best thing to do is to allow them to restructure... but our Republican colleagues have thus far resisted that."
Lew on Monday called restructuring "the alternative to a bailout." In the past he has said that if restructuring can't work, "you either have chaos or a bailout."
Bishop said he would vote against a bailout, which would likely face severe pushback from Republicans.
Democrats play up Puerto Rico's 'human' crisis before new bill
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