A coalition of progressive groups on Wednesday called for Congress to abolish Puerto Rico's Fiscal Control Board, which they say has deepened economic strain for the U.S. territory's residents, The Hill reported. Leading the call are Action Center on Race and the Economy (ACRE) and the Center for Popular Democracy, which released a 76-page report calling the Board's five-year tenure a failure. The Fiscal Control Board was created in 2016 as part of PROMESA, Congress's response to the island's fiscal debt crisis. "Although Congress passed PROMESA to provide much-needed relief to Puerto Rico in the midst of a crushing debt crisis, the Board has used its power to impose devastating austerity measures and negotiate unsustainable debt restructuring plans that enrich Wall Street and hurt Puerto Ricans," reads the report. Under the legislation, control over the island's budget was essentially handed over to the Board, an unelected panel that ultimately responds to Congress. The legislation was controversial from its inception, particularly among progressives in Congress who reluctantly supported it, given few other options at the time. The Board's consistent prescriptions of fiscal orthodoxy and austerity have created tension with those progressives, many of whom see Puerto Rico's current fiscal balance as a window to reverse PROMESA.
