Americans across the country are calling their Senator and Congressman in Washington asking, “Why Puerto Rico?” The answer is short and very simple – Puerto Rico, just like Utah, Wisconsin, and Virginia or any other state is a part of the United States. Puerto Rico has been part of our country since 1898 and today, 3.4 million Americans are anxiously awaiting House Republicans to come together with purpose and rally on the right side of history.
Americans in Puerto Rico are being held hostage by misinformation from wealthy hedge funds’ misleading advertising and outright ignorance. Those who stand to profit the most have no qualms in partnering with ignorance without regard to their fellow Americans.
Puerto Rico has been out of sight and out of mind – Congress has abdicated its responsibilities for a very long time. Previous Congresses shattered a thriving economy in 1996 when they unilaterally changed tax law to outright disenfranchise every single American living in Puerto Rico just because they could.
Speaker Paul Ryan is leading the charge in doing the right thing for Americans in Puerto Rico. House Bill 4900, the Puerto Rico Oversight, Management and Economic Stability Act (PROMESA) would help Puerto Rico restructure its $72 billion debt while treating all creditors fairly – without using any taxpayer dollars. This legislation is not a bailout – it simply gives Puerto Rico the tools, under the oversight of a federal fiscal control board similar to the one used in the District of Columbia from 1995 to 2001, to restructure its obligations to ensure creditors get paid in a fair, timely manner.
House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Rob Bishop was correct when he lamented that the plight of the 3.4 million Americans in Puerto Rico has been reduced to misleading ads and inaccurate information being spread around the country by big-money interests cloaked behind disarming names. It is much more bizarre that in Congress, Democrats and Republicans alike don’t understand much about the history and events that have allowed a territory of the United States of America to rack up over $72 billion in debt.
The worst part, however, is the belief that Puerto Rico’s debt crisis is solely the result of mismanagement and unsustainable policies enacted by the territory’s government. Let us be clear – there is plenty of blame to go around – in Puerto Rico and Washington. For instance, in the early 1970’s, Congress used the tax code to help create pharmaceutical jobs in Puerto Rico. Twenty years later, Congress used the tax code to essentially drive the jobs out of Puerto Rico to Mexico and other countries. Thanks to this vacuum, Puerto Rico’s borrowing accelerated and debt grew uncontrollably – all without Congressional oversight.
Puerto Rico is the “canary in the mine shaft” of the larger U.S. debt problem. We must address this important issue affecting Americans living in Puerto Rico and get our nation as a whole back on solid fiscal footing. It is high time Members of Congress do their jobs in this regard.
Congressman Bruce Westerman, a Republican from Arkansas, put it best, “Democratic forms of government require checks and balances. Puerto Rico is a territory owned by the United States government. If it were a city or county, then a state would be responsible for oversight. Since Puerto Rico is an American territory, the Article IV constitutional responsibility of oversight falls on Congress.”
It is time for every Member of Congress and President Barack Obama to work constructively with Chairman Bishop to quickly address the current fiscal cliff with restructuring and oversight tools not currently available under existing law. Chairman Bishop is proposing a framework of new laws that will protect the federal taxpayers from a bailout with a federally appointed board. It’s time Congress do their job and pass PROMESA, and soon – the future of American citizens in Puerto Rico depend on it.
Javier Ortiz is the executive director of the Puerto Rico Economic Recovery Initiative and is a partner at Falcon Cyber Investments