Senate Finance Committee chair Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) on Thursday called for Democrats and the administration to be more transparent and realistic after proposing "unworkable" solutions to Puerto Rico's crisis, as Congress continues to work toward bipartisan legislation for the commonwealth, The Bond Buyer reported today.
Puerto Rico in Distress
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Senate Democrats have unveiled legislation to alleviate Puerto Rico’s debt woes, urging that the island be allowed to declare bankruptcy on all of its debt, The Hill reported today. The bill released yesterday would allow the U.S. territory to restructure its $72 billion in outstanding debt and create a fiscal oversight board for the island.
Democrats in the Senate said that they would introduce two bills today to give Puerto Rico broad powers to shed some of its $72 billion of bonds while also giving its public workers’ pensions priority over the bonds, the New York Times DealBook blog reported.
Puerto Rico’s House of Representatives approved a bill to allow the island’s main water utility to issue debt with a stronger repayment pledge, a step aimed at allowing the agency to raise money needed to avoid missing payments on other bonds, Bloomberg News reported yesterday.