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Puerto Rico Wants Bankruptcy Provision Attached To Omnibus
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Puerto Rico Gov. Alejandro Garcia Padilla lobbied members of Congress Wednesday t0 allow the debt-ridden country to restructure its debt.
At a press conference Wednesday, Padilla suggested attaching a policy rider to the must-pass omnibus bill allowing the country to file for Chapter 9 bankruptcy.
“It looks like the most likely way for Congress to act prior to January,” Garcia Padilla said at a press conference Wednesday.
Illinois Democrat Rep. Luis Gutierrez said he wouldn’t vote for any omnibus legislation that didn’t provide support for Puerto Rico, The Hill reports.
The island narrowly missed defaulting on its debt in December and it is unclear whether it will make its payment come next month.
Senate Republicans disagreed on extending bankruptcy rights to the commonwealth, arguing it won’t fix the root of the problem or promote economic growth.
Sens. Orrin Hatch of Utah, Chuck Grassley of Iowa and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska unveiled a bill Wednesday evening that would provide the territory with tax relief without raising the deficit and would establish financial oversight of the island.
“Puerto Rico’s fiscal problems are the result of too much government spending and mismanagement,”Grassley said in a statement. “So, the question has always been how we help Puerto Rico help itself, with the information we’ve been provided, while ensuring that people like the 16,000 Iowans who invested their hard-earned money in Puerto Rico’s tax free electric utility bonds, for example, aren’t left holding the bag.”
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