Puerto Rico House Rejects Budget Changes to Pay Bondholders

Puerto Rico’s House of Representatives early Friday voted down an amendment to the current operating budget that would allocate billions of dollars to investors as part of the island’s debt-cutting plan.

The legislation failed after midnight local time on Friday by 25 to 21, one vote short of passage. Still, the U.S. commonwealth’s debt restructuring can continue as the island’s financial-oversight board has the ability to allocate the necessary funds itself, Rafael ‘Tatito’ Hernandez, speaker of the House, said in a statement Friday. The chamber will take up the issue again on Tuesday, he said.