With great power comes great responsibility and under the U.S. Constitution, Congress is vested with the power to “make all needful rules and regulations respecting” territories of the United States, according to commentary from Reps. Rob Bishop (R-Utah) and Sean Duffy (R-Wis.) and posted yesterday by the National Review. As millions of our fellow Americans in the territory of Puerto Rico face an economic crisis with great humanitarian consequences, Congress must fulfill its responsibility. In doing so, we introduced the Puerto Rico Oversight, Management, and Economic Stability Act (PROMESA). Following decades of fiscal mismanagement, Puerto Rico currently faces $72 billion in debt obligations and over $40 billion in unfunded pension liabilities, an amount that eclipses its economic productivity. Making debt repayment even more challenging, the island’s economy is strapped by burdensome labor policies, over-regulation, over-spending, and tax collection based on political patronage. Its market is crippled by subsidies and a state-run energy monopoly that provides “free” electricity to power private businesses, music festivals, and ice rinks with disco balls. As a result, unemployment and energy prices are twice the rate of the national average. Nearly half the island — including nearly six in ten children — live below the poverty line. It’s no wonder that Puerto Ricans are literally fleeing their birthplace by the tens of thousands in search of better opportunity on the mainland.
