Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren touched down in Puerto Rico Thursday, her latest stop on a tour of governments with distressed economies, and reiterated her support for the US territory to use bankruptcy to solve its problems.
She met with top officials in the US territory who told her the country is struggling to meet the next payments on the $72 billion of debt the government has accumulated.
“It is not clear if Puerto Rico can make those payments,” Warren said in a brief phone interview before flying off the island. “The only solution is for everyone to come to the table and negotiate a long term plan for Puerto Rico.”
Some in Congress want to give the territory more flexibility to use bankruptcy powers, but many Republicans and lenders oppose such a plan, arguing it would amount to a bailout.
Last month the Massachusetts Senator visited Germany and Greece as part of six-day trip to Europe focused on economic issues, including discussions on the Greek debt crisis and Eurozone economic policy.
On that trip she said that the austerity measures being pushed by the European Union and the International Monetary Fund were making matters worse and proving “political backlash.”
In Puerto Rico Thursday, Warren also met leading academics and bankers came away with a similar impression.
“The Puerto Rican people have been asked to bear huge costs of this long running debt crisis and now it’s clear that even as they’ve done with less and less that Puerto Rico may still not be able to service its debts,” she said.
Annie Linskey can be reached at annie.linskey@globe.com. Follow her on Twitter @annielinskey.
By Annie Linskey
Elizabeth Warren visits Puerto Rico
No comments:
Post a Comment