Puerto Rico’s House of Representatives early Friday voted down an amendment to the current operating budget that would allocate billions of dollars to investors as part of the island’s debt-cutting plan, Bloomberg News reported. The legislation failed after midnight local time on Friday by 25 to 21, one vote short of passage. Still, the U.S. commonwealth’s debt restructuring can continue as the island’s financial-oversight board has the ability to allocate the necessary funds itself, Rafael ‘Tatito’ Hernandez, speaker of the House, said in a statement Friday. The chamber will take up the issue again on Tuesday, he said. Either the lawmakers or the oversight board must revise the current budget to incorporate debt-service payments and also allocate $10.8 billion in cash payments to bondholders, insurance companies and public workers. It’s part of Puerto Rico’s debt-restructuring plan, which will cut $18.8 billion of commonwealth-backed bonds down to $7.4 billion. Some lawmakers object to paying billions to investors at a time when teachers and other public workers are flooding the streets of San Juan to ask for higher wages. About 44% of island residents live in poverty.
