Distortions of Rubio record on Puerto Rico show Dems’ fear
We offered Florida Sen. Marco Rubio the opportunity to respond to the editorial that criticized him for flipflopping on helping Puerto Rico achieve bankruptcy authority, a claim his campaign disputes. Instead, his spokesman submitted the following op-ed from a campaign adviser.
As Puerto Rico’s former attorney general, I have spent the past two decades advising presidents, presidential candidates, senators and members of the U.S. House of Representatives on federal policies impacting the island’s 3.5 million American citizens. In all this time, I have never seen Puerto Rico face an economic and debt crisis like the one it does today.
Solving it will require serious leaders to step forward with the right ideas and the willingness to make tough choices.
One specific idea — allowing Puerto Rican municipalities to reorganize their debts under Chapter 9 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code — has become mired in misinformation, and Democrats have gone out of their way to make this a divisive campaign wedge issue, even if it makes helping Puerto Rico harder.
Case in point is Democrats’ recent attacks on U.S. Senator Marco Rubio, of Florida, who, with the help of the liberal New York Times, say he “flip-flopped” on Chapter 9 legislation. That is patently false.
Rubio has never co-sponsored Chapter 9 legislation for Puerto Rico, nor has he said he supports it. He has clearly stated he believes it should only be considered as a “last resort,” but that San Juan’s politicians must first act to cut spending, stop recklessly growing their government and end job-killing tax and regulatory policies.
Because the 3.5 million American citizens in Puerto Rico lack any representation in the U.S. Senate, Rubio has always strove to be a voice for them. When proponents of Chapter 9 legislation approached him, he and his office gave it a serious look.
They discussed it with other congressional offices and others interested in the issue, shared their assessments and asked whether this was truly the best way to help Puerto Rico.
All of this is what most people would recognize not as support for a particular bill but as due diligence. And anyone who has interacted with Rubio over the years in developing public policy, including me in support of Chapter 9, would recognize this as the serious manner in which he has always conducted the people’s business.
When Rubio made a decision on this issue, it was to not co-sponsor Chapter 9 legislation when it was introduced in the U.S. Senate on July 15.
When he visited San Juan weeks later, he laid out a detailed plan to help Puerto Rico that consisted of putting the pressure on San Juan politicians to get their act together, in addition to reforms to the child tax credit, Earned Income Tax Credit and health care, as well as a commitment to support statehood for Puerto Rico if U.S. citizens there decide that’s the way forward.
It’s clear proponents of big government, such as Hillary Clinton and her liberal backers in San Juan, don’t want to admit their policies haven’t worked there, and they make no apologies for the damage their ideas have inflicted on the Puerto Rican people. They refuse to make tough policy decisions and have instead sold Chapter 9 as the first and only resort to addressing the crisis, instead of being the last resort.
This is as clear a sign as any that Democrats fear the prospect of facing Marco Rubio in a general election and are already hard at work lying and distorting his record to help their flawed standardbearer, Hillary Clinton.
Puerto Rico deserves better than this, and I am confident will get better with Marco Rubio as president.
He knows a better future for Puerto Rico begins with San Juan politicians getting their act together to stop big government’s growth and end job-killing policies.
But he also is committed to being the president that finally leads Congress and the nation in resolving Puerto Rico issues that Washington has put off for long enough.
Jose Fuentes served as Puerto Rico’s attorney general and is a leader of Marco Rubio’s presidential campaign in Puerto Rico.