Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.), one of the bill's most vocal critics, has prepared amendments that he says he will try to attach even if it means passing the debt-relief package after July 1, when the commonwealth faces a $2 billion debt payment. Amending the bill would require sending it back to the House of Representatives for approval, yet the House is adjourned until July 5.
Though Menendez is a member of the minority party, he could place a hold on the bill, which the Senate leadership would need 60 votes to break. He declined to say whether he would use that parliamentary maneuver, though he didn’t rule it out.
"There's no reason to put a [hold] on the bill" if there's an opportunity for amendments, he said.
The resistance from Menendez and other Democrats is the latest hurdle for a bill that has set off a furious lobbying battle in Washington and was stalled in the House until Speaker Paul Ryan and the Obama administration struck a compromise to break the impasse. The House voted to approve the legislation on June 9.
Yet Menendez says he’s dissatisfied and will try to add measures to the House bill to create what he says is a "clearer pathway to restructuring." He will propose that the island’s government and agencies be able to restructure their debt without a supermajority vote of approval by a federally appointed oversight board that the legislation will set up. He also wants to add two seats to the board to be nominated and approved by Puerto Rico’s governor and senate. And he or another Democrat will propose eliminating overtime and minimum wage provisions.
"Hopefully, we're going to get a chance for amendments," Menendez said.
Menendez is working to rally Democrats to join him in pushing for those changes, even if it means slowing the bill's progress. He will need to persuade some Republicans too, given their majority and the 60-vote threshold that most measures must currently clear in the Senate.
Menendez said he is not concerned about pushing past the deadline for Puerto Rico's next big debt payment, saying it's more important to get the bill right.
"Puerto Rico's going to have a liquidity challenge no matter what,” he said. The bill contains language that would make a stay on lawsuits from creditors retroactive to December 2015, meaning it would catch new litigation in addition to suits that have already been filed, he said.
Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), who cosigned a letter Menendez sent Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell calling for immediate consideration of the bill to allow more time to debate amendments, said he would likely support changes along the lines of what Menendez said he will introduce.
"I'm thinking of supporting it, but I'm very unhappy with the labor provisions and the way the [oversight board's] made up," Brown said. "[Republicans] want to make Puerto Rico into a little test-case laboratory that will make it even poorer than it is."
Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.) echoed Brown and Menendez's dissatisfaction, saying she hadn't made up her mind on the bill but was sure she would support amendments similar to those Menendez had proposed.
"We have a growing number of people" supportive of efforts to weaken the board and eliminate the minimum wage and overtime positions, said Menendez, who added that he has persuaded several senators to support some of his changes. Menendez spoke to colleagues about his proposals following a briefing by Treasury Secretary Jack Lew at a Democratic caucus meeting last week.
Lew and his point man on Puerto Rico, Treasury counselor Antonio Weiss, have made personal entreaties to Senate Democrats to quell discontent over those provisions. In addition to Lew's weekly caucus meeting, Weiss has made calls and spoke at a Center for American Progress event with the goal of winning over progressive skeptics.
"We need to put this legislation into place and we need to pass it by July 1," Weiss said at the Thursday morning event, where he spoke on a panel with Puerto Rico's Gov. Alejandro Garcia Padilla and the commonwealth's nonvoting delegate in Congress, Rep. Pedro Pierluisi.
Pushing passage of the bill past July 1 may play into the hands of some creditors, who could file an emergency injunction to prevent Puerto Rico from spending money on anything other than its debt if no stay is passed before then. Better Markets, a nonpartisan group that pushes for Wall Street reform, has advocated against amending the bill because that could delay it. In a lawsuit filed against the commonwealth last week, a group of hedge funds holding general obligation debt argued that under the Puerto Rican constitution payments owed to them take precedence over governmental services.
Brown sounded less sure than Menendez about trading off timeliness for amendments.
"There's certainly fear" of going past July 1, he said. "There's fear of us going too slow."
Though McConnell has not announced a specific introduction date, he appears ready to aim for passage before July 1.
Given objections from Menendez and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), McConnell may file cloture on Monday, meaning final passage of the bill would come Thursday, after a required intervening day and 30 hours of debate time. To block any changes, McConnell could fill the amendment "tree," precluding any further attachments to the bill that could slow its passage. A spokesperson for the majority leader did not comment.
The expedited consideration may also give Democrats political cover to rail against a process that didn't grant them a chance to change the legislation, while still reluctantly voting yes to a bill they see as imperfect, just as a majority of their House counterparts did.
"Given the growing bipartisan realization that Puerto Rico's economic woes are giving way to a humanitarian crisis, I think the Senate will ultimately pass [the bill] before breaking for July 4 recess," said former New Hampshire Sen. Judd Gregg, who has lobbied senators on behalf of a group of creditors supportive of the bill. "With the strong leadership support and bipartisan coalition, passage should be swift and uninterrupted, which is obviously what the situation needs."
Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2016/06/bob-menendez-puerto-rico-bill-default-224797#ixzz4CmHvykoK
Follow us: @politico on Twitter | Politico on Facebook
By Colin Wilhelm
Menendez pushes to amend Puerto Rico bill even as threat of default looms
No comments:
Post a Comment