Puerto Rico News: Sen. Elizabeth Warren Criticizes White House on Puerto Rico Policy
Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., criticized the White House’s recent move to offer an economic plan for Puerto Rico for its lack creativity.
The U.S. territory currently owns approximately $72 billion to hedge funds, mutual funds and other investors. Back in June, Puerto Rico Gov. Alejandro García Padilla said the debt was not payable. As Latin Post reported, García Padilla said. “This is not politics, this is math.”
Last Wednesday, the Obama administration outlined a proposal aimed at allowing Puerto Rico to restructure its debts by providing an independent financial oversight that would ensure the commonwealth keeps to a financial recovery plan.
During a Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources hearing, with Rep. Pedro Pierluisi -- the non-voting congressman for Puerto Rico, Warren said that drastic cuts to public services had already been made and that if nothing was done to help Puerto Rico soon, the island would run out of money by next month.
Warren, a member of the committee, spoke out in favor of a Chapter 9 proposal put out by Pierluisi, and called upon the U.S. Treasury Department to "be just as creative in coming up with solutions for Puerto Rico as it was when the big banks called for help."
The senator from Massachusetts explained, "During the financial crisis, when the banks were in trouble, Treasury did a lot more than just bail them out. Treasury stretched the limits of its authority to make sure that the banks stay afloat. It helped broker deals between banks, it applied pressure to get parties to accept deals they may not have liked very much.”
Now, said Warren, it is the people of Puerto Rico who are calling out for help.
As the New York Times reports, over 300,000 Puerto Ricans have left the island in the last 10 years in order to find work on the mainland.
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