OFFICIALS LEGISLATION INTEREST GROUPS PUBLIC STATEMENTS COMMITTEES VETOES

Providing for Consideration of Senate Amendment to H.R. 2029, Military Construction and Veterans Affairs and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2016; Providing for Proceedings During the Period...

Floor Speech

Date: Dec. 17, 2015
Location: Washington, DC
Issues: Economy and Fiscal Government Budget and Spending

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Mr. Speaker, it is unconscionable that the legislation we are considering does nothing to address Puerto Rico's mounting debt crisis. Puerto Rico's crisis is decades in the making, and it stems from years of neglect from this very same body, the United States Congress.

The United States Congress brought us where we are today. Now it has a moral responsibility to act. Yet, my Republican colleagues are standing in the way. Giving Puerto Rico authority to restructure its debts will not cost taxpayers a dime, but it would help solve their fiscal crisis.

To those who say Puerto Rico needs to cut spending, I ask you: How much more? The island spends $2,000 less per student than the average spent on the mainland. The government has already closed nearly 100 schools this year in addition to 60 closures last year. Sales taxes are the highest in the United States and would increase from 7 percent to 11.5 percent.

The government has laid off 21 percent of its employees since 2008, and the 2016 budget makes further cuts. Puerto Rico is doing its part to raise revenue and cut expenses. Stop playing Russian roulette with the well-being of the Puerto Rican people, American citizens.

Despite all the reforms that have been taken, Wall Street hedge funds want more. They bought this debt at cheap prices, and now they want it all. They are willing to inflate big suffering on 3.5 million American citizens in order to reap massive profits. Sadly, congressional Republicans decide.

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Mr. Speaker, the Governor of Puerto Rico is here--he is sitting in the gallery--asking you to help those Americans who call the island home.

While we are all going home for the holidays, for the 56 percent of American children who live in poverty in Puerto Rico, this omnibus is their Christmas present.

Shame on us. It is wrong. It is morally wrong. It will not cost one dime to taxpayers. All we are asking is give Puerto Rico the ability to restructure its public debt like any other municipality in this country.

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