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, Bloomberg News reported yesterday. Top Senate Republicans are 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. “We don’t see how there is a resolution in the week or so that remains before this Congress leaves for the holidays, and once it returns this fight could drag on for many months,” Guggenheim Securities said in a note to investors. Read more.
Rep. Pedro Pierluisi recently spoke for an exclusive ABI video outlining why congressional action is needed to help reverse Puerto Rico's debt crisis, including his legislation to permit the territory's public companies to file under chapter 9. Watch the video here.
A free BloombergLaw “Eye on Bankruptcy” webinar on Dec. 17 will feature Rep. Pedro Pierluisi and Judge Steven Rhodes discussing Puerto Rico debt crisis from ABI’s Winter Leadership Conference! To register, please click here.
Also, make sure to register for ABI’s Caribbean Insolvency Symposium on Feb. 4-6 in San Juan to join experts discussing Puerto Rico’s debt crisis!
For further analysis and developments on Puerto Rico’s debt crisis, be sure to visit ABI’s “Puerto Rico in Distress” webpage.
