Congress Unlikely to Agree on Puerto Rico Rescue by Year's End
- Senate Republicans turn away request for bankruptcy powers
- Bond prices unchanged as investors skeptical deal will come
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Less than 10 days before they plan to adjourn for the Christmas holiday, lawmakers in Congress remain divided over how to help Puerto Rico as the island rapidly runs out cash and inches closer toward the first major default on its bonds.
Top Senate Republicans moving to extend as much as $3 billion in aid to the territory as long as it cedes some financial powers to a federal board, while declining to give Puerto Rico the ability to file for bankruptcy to cuts its debt. Democrats, who are in the minority, may try to attach a bankruptcy measure to the spending bill that Congress needs to pass to keep the U.S. government running, seeing it as the best chance to push through one of Puerto Rico’s key priorities.