This is great PR!
US approves island rescue package
Congress delivered relief to debt-stricken Puerto Rico early Wednesday evening, sending President Obama a last-minute financial rescue package to help the US territory of 3.5 million Americans.
The Senate passed the bill on a bipartisan 68-30 vote, three weeks after the House overwhelmingly backed the measure.
The vote came two days before the island is supposed to make a $2 billion payment to creditors. Obama is expected to move quickly and sign the legislation.
Puerto Rico is in a decade-long recession and has $70 billion in debt. Thousands have fled for the US mainland. Businesses on the island have closed, schools have struggled with limited electricity and hospitals have asked for cash in advance for some drugs.
The White House and Republican and Democratic leaders in Congress warned that, without help from Washington, the island could descend into economic chaos, with signs already pointing to a humani- tarian crisis. In a rare feat of election-year unity, all four Republican and Democratic leaders in Congress supported the bill.
The legislation would create a control board to oversee the US territory’s finances and supervise some debt restructuring. It would not provide direct fi- nancial aid to the territory, but leaders warned that a bailout could eventually become necessary if Congress doesn’t take this step.
“If we don’t act before the island misses a critical debt payment deadline this Friday, matters will only get worse — for Puerto Rico and for taxpayers,” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) had warned.
The control board would be similar to one that oversaw Washington, DC, in the 1990s. Its seven members would oversee negotiations with creditors and the courts over reducing debt
Gov. Alejandro Garcia Padilla had warned the US territory would face multiple lawsuits if the bill was not approved, especially following Friday’s anticipated default on $1 billion in bonds.