Give Puerto Rico a Shot at Growth

Last week's declaration of a public health emergency on Puerto Rico is a reminder of just how badly the commonwealth still needs federal help. The unchecked outbreak of Zika -- more than 10,000 reported cases -- will potentially cost Puerto Rico millions of dollars it doesn't have and make restoring economic growth that much harder.

To be sure, Congress deserves bipartisan credit for passing a bill that enables the orderly restructuring of Puerto Rico's staggering $70 billion in debt and creates a strong federal control board to balance its books. But Puerto Rico can't dig its way out of its debt hole without growth. Its economy is expected to shrink by 2 percent in fiscal 2017. In fact, the International Monetary Fund has forecast that Puerto Rico's gross domestic product, labor force and population could keep falling through 2021.