Puerto Rico Pleads for U.S. Aid as Senate Dashes Bankruptcy Push

Source: Bloomberg

December 9, 2015 — 12:20 PM EST

Puerto Rico Governor Alejandro Garcia Padilla pleaded with Congress to help his government emerge from a deepening fiscal crisis, saying the federal spending bill may be the best chance for the island to secure aid before bond payments come due next month.

Just moments after the governor began speaking with reporters in Washington Wednesday, Democrats in the Senate failed in an effort to unanimously push through a bill that would allow some of Puerto Rico’s agencies to file for municipal bankruptcy, one of the island’s top priorities. The bill has stalled for lack of support among Republicans who control Congress.

Garcia Padilla said the most likely way for the island to secure aid this month would be by attaching provisions to the spending bill that Congress must pass to keep the government running.

“It looks like the most likely way for Congress to act prior to January,” Garcia Padilla told reporters. “For American taxpayers, if Congress does not act now, this will not be expensive -- it will be very expensive because this will turn into a humanitarian crisis.”



Read more: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-12-09/puerto-rico-pleads-for-u-s-aid-as-senate-dashes-bankruptcy-push