In a letter addressed to Sen. Orin Hatch, R-Utah, and the Senate Finance Committee, Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew explained that the Obama administration cannot do anything legally to help Puerto Rico. It's Congress, he said, that holds the power to grant access to bankruptcy protections to the beleaguered island.

Lew wrote a public letter on Tuesday addressing Sen. Hatch's concerns regarding Puerto Rico's economic crisis. Serving as chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, Sen. Hatch asked Lew in a July 17 letter some questions concerning the administration's stance on the territory's crisis.

Puerto Rico, a U.S. territory since 1917, is currently in an economic crisis with a debt tittering around $73 billion. Sen. Hatch sent Lew the letter because Gov. Alejandro Garcia Padilla has said the island cannot pay back its debt and has called for help from the U.S. federal government.

However, Lew explained in his letter the law prevents the Obama administration from directly helping the island and clarified the executive is not considering a bailout but asserted the government can have a role in improving Puerto Rico's situation.

"I do believe that the federal government has a critical role to play in helping Puerto Rico achieve the best possible outcome for its people," he wrote.

In his letter, Sen. Hatch asked about what steps Puerto Rico and the Treasury Department were taking to ameliorate the crisis. Lew explained Gov. Padilla created the Working Group for the Economic Recovery of Puerto Rico to establish a "long-term fiscal plan" for the island. He also added the Treasury had sent a team "to evaluate Puerto Rico's fiscal outlook and to share its expertise with the local officials who oversee Puerto Rico's economic policies."

Lew explained Puerto Rico also attempted to bypass the law and enact a type of bankruptcy law to help its situation, but a federal court struck it down.

"The Court held that only Congress may grant Puerto Rico access to bankruptcy protection," he wrote. "Under the status quo, without a tested legal regime in place, a resolution of Puerto Rico's financial obligations would likely be chaotic, protracted, and costly both for Puerto Rico and more broadly for the United States."

Expanding on the need for Congress to act, Lew wrote allowing Puerto Rico access to bankruptcy laws does not equate a bailout but avoids "an untested and potentially disruptive process with numerous creditor lawsuits and years of litigation [that] would depress the local economy, increase costs, and make long-term recovery harder to achieve."

Sen. Hatch also favors an "orderly resolution" for Puerto Rico's economic crisis and asked Lew about the administration's position on granting the territory Chapter 9 protections. However, Lew did not answer Sen. Hatch's questions concerning minimum wage and taxes, but the Treasury Secretary emphasized the importance to grant Puerto Rico access to bankruptcy protections.

"By granting Puerto Rico access to an orderly bankruptcy regime as soon as possible, Congress can help put Puerto Rico -- and the millions of U.S. citizens who live there -- on the best path to a sustained recovery," he explained.

There are currently two bills in Congress, one in the House and one in the Senate. Rep. Pedro Pierluisi's bill in the House has no cosponsors. In the Senate, Sens. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and David Blumenthal, D-Conn., introduced a similar "Puerto Rico Chapter 9 Uniformity Act of 2015." The bill has 13 cosponsors, none of whom are Sen. Hatch.