Republicans Offer Puerto Rico a Helping Hand in Debt Crisis
- House bill provides bankruptcy access with federal oversight
- Senate legislation promises $3 billion for cash-stapped island
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Republicans in the U.S. Congress proposed their first measures to help Puerto Rico as it swiftly runs out of cash, responding to pleas from the island’s government and the Obama administration.
Senate committee chairs including Orrin Hatch, the head of the finance panel, filed a Wednesday to direct up to $3 billion to Puerto Rico through a new authority that would oversee the island’s budget and could borrow on its behalf. Representative Sean Duffy, who sits on the House Financial Services committee, also introduced legislation to give Puerto Rico agencies the ability to file for municipal bankruptcy, a provision that’s absent in the Senate bill.