Puerto Rico
Floor Speech
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico is in crisis. It owes billions of dollars in debt, and without prompt congressional action, it could be forced to leave residents without essential services such as hospitals and public safety resources. If we don't act before the island misses a critical debt payment deadline this Friday, matters will only get a lot worse--for Puerto Rico and for taxpayers. President Obama's Treasury Secretary warns that Puerto Rico could be forced to ``lay off police officers, shut down public transit, and close medical facilities.'' This could very well result in a taxpayer-funded bailout.
Today, however, we have an opportunity to help Puerto Rico in the face of this crisis and prevent a taxpayer bailout by passing the responsible bipartisan bill before us. This bill will not cost taxpayers a dime--not a dime. What it will do is help Puerto Rico restructure its financial obligations and provide much needed oversight to put in place needed reforms. It achieves this with an audit of the island's finances and the establishment of what the Washington Post has called ``an impartial panel of experts'' to bring desperately needed transparency and reform to Puerto Rico's fiscal operations.
Puerto Rico currently spends over a third of its budget on debt payments alone. By restructuring Puerto Rico's financial debt and helping reform its operations, this bill will allow the territory to invest more of its resources in growing the economy and creating more opportunities for its residents. Obviously, the bill isn't perfect, but here is why we should support it: It will not cost taxpayers a dime, it prevents a bailout, and it offers Puerto Rico the best chance to return to financial stability and economic growth over the long term, so we can help prevent another financial crisis like this in the future. In short, it is ``just the first step,'' as the Governor of Puerto Rico said, ``in what will be . . . [a] long road to recovery'' for the island. But it is the most responsible, taxpayer-friendly step we can take right now.
So let me remind my colleagues that Puerto Rico faces a critical deadline this Friday, 2 days from today. This is the best and possibly the only action we can take to help Puerto Rico. As Secretary Jack Lew put it, ``[D]oing nothing now to end the debt crisis will result in a chaotic, disorderly unwinding with widespread consequences.'' It is the surest route to both the taxpayer-funded bailout of Puerto Rico and a humanitarian crisis for its people. These are all things we should avoid.
Doing nothing is not an option. We must act now to prevent matters from getting worse. The House already passed this bipartisan bill with the backing of nearly 300 Members. Now it is the Senate's turn to send this to the President's desk immediately.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Source