USA helps with Puerto Rico’s debt

In what Delegate to Congress Stacey Plaskett described as a “significant victory” for the U.S. Virgin Islands, the territory is no longer directly tied to the Puerto Rico Oversight Management and Economic Stability Act (PROMESA), which passed the U.S. House of Representatives today, a press release issued by Ms. Plaskett’s office has revealed.

It would give the island a grace period for paying back certain debts and create an oversight board to control the island’s finances.

It passed the House on Thursday with a vote of 297 to 127 as President Barack Obama, House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), and Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) all lined up behind it. Purchasers of Puerto Rican government bonds do not pay federal, state or local taxes, which led investors to snatch them up anytime the island offered them. “We can not allow this to happen”, Ryan said in imploring lawmakers, especially reluctant conservatives in the GOP caucus, to back the bill during debate.

The bill has White House backing and now heads to the Senate, before another possible default in early July. It took three attempts for the bill to pass.

The bill now faces an uncertain timetable in the Senate. Sen.

“I applaud the House of Representatives for finally passing legislation that can bring an end to the debt crisis in Puerto Rico”.

The bill would also create a federal task force to look at ways that Puerto Rico can get out of the economic spiral that it’s been in for decades.

After Puerto Rico missed a debt payment on May 2, the White House called on Congress to step in and help the USA territory avoid financial disaster. The economic crisis has forced businesses to close, driven up the employment rate and sparked an exodus of hundreds of thousands of people to the US mainland. The situation has turned into a humanitarian crises as some schools don’t even have adequate electricity supply and hospitals have no resources to provide satisfactory care.

The island’s only active air ambulance company announced this week that it has suspended its services.

The Supreme Court ruled against Puerto Rico Thursday in a battle over sovereignty, saying that in criminal prosecutions, US jurisdiction takes precedence over Puerto Rico’s. He says that this legislation will at least protect them from the humiliating default of July 1.

Ahead of the vote, Republicans said they had enough support from both parties for passage.

In a concession to Democrats, Republicans removed a provision from the bill that would have approved the land transfer of 3,100 acres of the Vieques National Wildlife Refuge from the Interior Department to the Puerto Rican government.

A number of conservatives in Republican ranks opposed the bill, anxious that it would set a unsafe precedent and cost taxpayers.

Moreover, another republican Rep. Sean Duffy of Wisconsin tried his best to fight against the idea that this legislation resembles a bailout.

“The bottom line is, this bill doesn’t spend any taxpayer money bailing anybody out”, Duffy said. Doing so may result in civil and/or criminal penalties. AP material published by LongIsland.com, is done so with explicit permission. This includes the preparation of derivative works of, or the incorporation of such content into other works. Please see our terms of service for more information.