What Does Debt Plan Mean for Puerto Rico? [Video]

What Does Debt Plan Mean for Puerto Rico?

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Bankruptcy is wrong for Puerto Rico

Treasury Secretary Jack Lew recently visited Puerto Rico in an effort to show the administration’s support for the beleaguered territory. Lew’s comments on his trip to San Juan and his January 15 letter to House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) make it clear that when it comes to Puerto Rico, the administration largely equates “support”  with “bankruptcy.”  The administration’s well-intentioned desire to help the people of Puerto Rico is laudable, but it is a mistake to give Puerto Rico the power to rewrite its laws and contracts through a retroactive application of new bankruptcy laws. The administration’s position is neither good policy for Puerto Rico nor the United States.  Ambac is one of the country’s largest guarantors of municipal and state debt.  In Puerto Rico, we insure well over $2 billion of the Commonwealth’s various debt obligations, and our commitments to the island extend until the year 2054.  Our financial support of the Commonwealth helped build i...
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Isaac: Chapter 9 offers Puerto Rico a path to solvency

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This week, Puerto Rico faces another critical juncture in its debt crisis, as the House will devote simultaneous hearings to the island’s fiscal situation on Thursday. I will appear alongside a panel of other witnesses at the hearing before the House Financial Services’ Oversight and Investigations subcommittee, while Treasury Counselor Antonio Weiss will be the lone witness to testify before the House Natural Resources Committee. Puerto Rico’s complex and increasingly severe debt crisis demands federal intervention  and, ultimately, a significant debt restructuring. The urgency of this need is not lost on Washington, where there is rare bipartisan consensus in Congress and within the administration that lawmakers must act to offer the island debt relief and put in place policies to foster long-term economic growth. As noted by Puerto Rico’s government and other observers, this is a task that presents significant challenges. The commonwealth has amassed a spiders’ web of de...
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EU Sugar Reform Will Damage African Economies

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