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Puerto Rico Rescue Bill Okayed

Puerto Rico Rescue Bill Okayed
Puerto Rico Rescue Bill Okayed

The US House of Representatives on Thursday overwhelmingly passed a bill to help Puerto Rico avoid economic collapse. The island  is $70 billion in debt and stuck in a recession. The situation is so dire that Puerto Ricans are literally fleeing the island at a rate not seen since the 1950s “West Side Story” era, KCCI reported. The bill is being hailed as a bipartisan compromise. “Today the House acted to prevent Puerto Rico’s fiscal crisis from escalating into a humanitarian catastrophe,” said Rep. Rob Bishop, a Republican from Utah who helped to draft the bill. The bill, known as PROMESA (the Spanish word for “promise”) passed the House with a vote of 297 to 127. It creates an oversight board to control the island’s finances. The board would have special abilities to restructure the island’s debt, but only as a last resort. Puerto Rico has already defaulted three times in the past year. A hefty payment of nearly $2 billion is due July 1.

 

Financialtribune.com