Speaker Paul Ryan and top House Democrat Nancy Pelosi said Thursday they expect to be able to work out their differences on a bill to help address Puerto Rico’s debt crisis, but Ryan’s bigger challenge may be getting enough fellow Republicans to go along with the plan, Bloomberg News reported yesterday. Republicans acknowledge the island needs help from Congress to — in Ryan’s words — "bring order to the chaos" of a crisis over its $70 billion in debt, but many are skeptical of the draft issued by the House Natural Resources Committee. Republicans say that the curbs Democrats want to place on bondholders and creditors are too drastic. At the same time, Democrats complain that the oversight that Republicans want to enforce on Puerto Rico in return for relief is too harsh. Those positions were still playing out after the Natural Resources Committee unexpectedly cancelled a planned meeting Thursday to consider a draft bill, delaying action until next week at the earliest. The panel’s Republican chairman, Rob Bishop of Utah, indicated the measure didn’t have enough votes yet to reach the floor. Read more.
For more news and analysis of Puerto Rico's debt crisis, be sure to visit ABI's "Puerto Rico in Distress" webpage.
