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Senator Elizabeth Warren unveiled a comprehensive debt relief plan for Puerto Rico. The United States commonwealth, ravished by Hurricane Maria in 2017, has been slow to recover, as the Trump administration drags its racist feet. However, Puerto Rico’s largest ongoing issue is tens of billions in debt. That debt is mostly owned by Wall Street, and as Sen. Warren points out, unlike most American citizens in states, Puerto Rico does not have the same legal recourses available to them.
If Puerto Rico were a big company in this kind of financial trouble, it could file for bankruptcy, pay some of its debts, discharge the rest, then start rebuilding. If Puerto Rico were an American city in this kind of financial trouble, it could do the same. But Puerto Rico isn’t a corporation or a city. Because of its unique status, those legal options aren’t available — and so it’s caught in a terrible position, battered by natural disasters with no clear path to recovery.
Sen. Warren points out that the current administration’s petty bigotries and general selfishness has been “unconscionable” in regards to helping Puerto Rico post Hurricane Maria. But Puerto Rico needs more than just supplies, they need a way out of the enormous financial hole they now have virtually no way of climbing out of. Sen. Warren is building off of the Democratic movement across the country to finally reckon with our historic failings in regards to Puerto Rico.
For decades American officials have been able to maintain what in essence was a modern colonial policy toward Puerto Rico, with little media coverage of the islands’ woes and issues brought to the general public’s knowledge. But now, in no small part because of the internet and the rising profile of more and more Puerto Ricans in public life and the arts, more Americans are getting a chance to see how we treat our own citizens.
Sen. Warren was one of 14 Democratic senators to vote against the terrible PROMESA legislation in 2016 that focused more on bondholders’ safety than on Puerto Rican livelihoods. According to Sen. Warren, she wants to re-introduce the U.S. Territorial Relief Act.
This legislation would give U.S. territories like Puerto Rico the option to terminate their debt if they meet certain criteria, like being struck by a disaster, suffering major population loss, and staggering under overwhelming debt. The Territorial Relief Act would give Puerto Rico a shot at getting out from under its crushing debt load and building a future for itself.
The bill would also safeguard bondholders, while also requiring an independent audit of Puerto Rico’s debt itself. The latter requirement is important as there has been speculation as to how predatory and legal much of the debt accrued by Puerto Rico actually is.
A comprehensive plan to relieve Puerto Rico’s debt is not something that can be understated or put off. There are terrible and idiotic “financial cliff” deadlines for the island that, if reached with no further funding, will throw hundreds of thousands of people out of their Medicare plans. It is a life or death proposition to many American citizens. Daily Kos’s Denise Oliver Velez has written mountains about the need for the Democratic Party to have a party-wide platform on Puerto Rico debt and revitalization, and Sen. Warren is stepping forward to put her campaign’s money where its mouth is, and keep this conversation in the Party’s discourse.