Republican overseeing Puerto Rico finances bashes the island in bizarre racist slam

SARAH K. BURRIS
14 NOV 2017 AT 07:41 ET

Andrew Biggs is a Republican member of PROMESA, a board created in 2016 to chaperone Puerto Rico’s finances in the wake of the island’s bankruptcy problems. Yet, when speaking about the recovery efforts, he compared those U.S. citizens to “drunks” who have “hit rock bottom.”

The Intercept reported Tuesday that, while speaking at an American Enterprise Institute event on the island and disaster relief, Biggs claimed fair treatment of workers is what is stopping Puerto Rico from recovery. He specifically cited minimum wage laws, labor rules surrounding just-cause termination, paid sick days for staff, paternity leave and overtime. Even a planned Christmas bonus is stopping Puerto Rico from greatness, according to Biggs.

“The reality is, the government doesn’t want to do these things,” he said of labor laws. “If you let them not do them, they won’t do them.” If the island were to be given additional aid from Congress, Biggs argued that it should come with strings attached demanding they kill their progressive labor laws.

“I mean, I don’t want to sound pejorative, but I hope this would be like the alcoholic who hits rock bottom and who says, ‘OK, we’re bankrupt now, we really got to change the way we’re doing things,’” Biggs said.

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https://www.rawstory.com/2017/11/republican-overseeing-puerto-rico-finances-bashes-the-island-in-bizarre-racist-slam/