Senate Finance Committee chair Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) on Thursday called for Democrats and the administration to be more transparent and realistic after proposing "unworkable" solutions to Puerto Rico's crisis, as Congress continues to work toward bipartisan legislation for the commonwealth, The Bond Buyer reported today. Hatch made his comments during a lengthy speech on the floor of the Senate following several proposals from Senate Democrats earlier in the week that would give Puerto Rico and its public authorities the ability to restructure their roughly $70 billion of debt, institute an oversight board, and improve federal tax and health care treatment for the island. He added that any congressional solution must be done "in a manner that is fiscally responsible with an eye toward righting the irresponsible course taken by the government of Puerto Rico." Democrats in Congress and the administration, led by the Treasury Department, have not made clear how much their proposals, like broadening Puerto Rico's access to the federal Medicaid program, would cost the federal government or how they would offset those costs in legislation, he said. "In reality, their proposal would create, for lack of a better word, a Super Chapter 9 specifically for Puerto Rico and grant the territory unprecedented authority to restructure its debt," he said.
