Puerto Rico’s federal oversight board hired two firms to lobby in Washington, D.C., for policies that will help pull the bankrupt island out of a decade-long recession, Bloomberg News reported on Friday. Williams & Jensen and Off Hill Strategies will push for policy changes at the White House and in Congress, according to contracts posted on the board’s website. Such measures include waiving the Jones Act — which limits cargo between Puerto Rico and the mainland — and allowing impoverished residents to receive the federal earned income tax credit, according to the contracts. The House of Representatives on Thursday passed a $36.5 billion disaster-relief bill that would give Puerto Rico access to low-interest Treasury loans the island has said it needs to avoid running out of cash by the end of October. The severity of Puerto Rico’s financial strain has led investors to expect that its debts will be cut deeply in court, leaving general-obligation bonds due in 2035 trading for 34.3 cents on the dollar, not far off a record low of 30 cents hit last week. The board also engaged Munger, Tolles & Olson LLP to represent it against hedge fund Aurelius Investments LLC, according to a contract posted on Thursday on the panel’s website. The fund in August asked the U.S. District Court Judge Laura Taylor Swain to dismiss the bankruptcy case because the federal board members were never confirmed by a vote of the U.S. Senate. Aurelius Capital Management, which oversees Aurelius Investments, held about $471 million of Puerto Rico general-obligation bonds as of July 12.
