Facing mounting pressure to help Puerto Rico out of its ongoing debt crisis, three Republican senators on Wednesday introduced a bill to extend various forms of aid to the island, a statement from Orrin Hatch's (R-Utah) office revealed.
Hatch, who chairs the Senate Finance Committee, along with Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee; and Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), chairman of the Energy and Natural Resources committee, introduced the bill, according to Reuters.
The forms of aid the bill includes are: up to $3 million in cash relief, a payroll tax break for Puerto Rican residents and a new independent authority that could borrow for Puerto Rico. Furthermore, it called for Puerto Rico - along with all U.S. states - to, for the first time, reveal the true financial condition of their pension systems for government workers. Since governments use actuarial numbers rather than fair-value, the cost for a state's pension plan is frequently understated.
Hatch said the bill is aimed to "lay out a sustainable framework to improve Puerto Rico's finances." In that regard, it was a far cry from the proposals from the Obama administration had put forth, which included giving Puerto Rico access to bankruptcy court, according to The New York Times.
This development came after Puerto Rican officials came to Washington again, urging lawmakers to pass legislation that would allow their government to declare bankruptcy, which it doesn't have ability to do under existing law, since the island territory lacks the same bankruptcy protections as the states do.
"We are not asking for a bailout. We are asking for the tools to do the job," said Gov. Alejandro Garcia Padilla, according to The Hill.
This declaration appeared to resonate with Republicans who proposed the bill.
"Consistent with the views of Congress and the administration that there will be no 'bailout'" of Puerto Rico, said a bill summary, "the full faith and credit of the United States is not pledged for the payment of debt obligations issued by the authority."
