The agreement on May 19 between House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) and the Obama administration on a measure to help Puerto Rico out of its debt crisis presents an obvious and urgently needed plan for the territory, according to a Washington Post editorial on Friday.
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Puerto Rico Governor Alejandro García Padilla presented a $9.1 billion spending plan for the fiscal year starting July 1 that allocates just $209 million for bond interest payments, reiterating his stand that the commonwealth plans to skip most debt obligations, Bloomberg News reported yesterday.
Puerto Rico’s government-run electric utility resurrected a deal with creditors willing to lend it $111 million, a sign of slow-moving progress in the island’s first negotiated agreement to cut some of its $70 billion of debt, Bloomberg reported on Friday.
With great power comes great responsibility and under the U.S. Constitution, Congress is vested with the power to “make all needful rules and regulations respecting” territories of the United States, according to commentary from Reps. Rob Bishop (R-Utah) and Sean Duffy (R-Wis.) and posted yesterday by the National Review.
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The Financial Oversight and Management Board for Puerto Rico was created under the Puerto Rico Oversight, Management and Economic Stability Act of 2016. The Board consists of seven members appointed by the President of the United States and one ex officio member designated by the Governor of Puerto Rico. Access information on the Board, documents, videos of meetings, calendar of events and live webcasts by clicking here.