Resident Commissioner Pedro Pierluisi released the following statement regarding today’s announcement, by the Subcommittee on Indian, Insular and Alaska Native Affairs of the House Natural Resources Committee, that it will hold a hearing on Tuesday, January 26th at 11:00 a.m. entitled “The Need for the Establishment of a Puerto Rico Financial Stability and Economic Growth Authority”:
“I am pleased that House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Rob Bishop and Indian, Insular and Alaska Native Affairs Subcommittee Chairman Don Young have decided to schedule this hearing, which follows a hearing that another subcommittee of the Natural Resources Committee held last week on energy challenges and opportunities in the U.S. territory. In June 2015, the Subcommittee on Insular Affairs—of which I am a member—held a hearing that explored the causal relationship between Puerto Rico’s unequal and undignified status as a territory and its economic, fiscal and demographic crisis.
“I expect that, following next week’s hearing, a legislative package for Puerto Rico is likely to be unveiled. Let me be crystal clear. If this package seeks to impose a federal board to oversee the Puerto Rico government’s fiscal practices, but does not provide Puerto Rico with the authority to restructure a significant portion of its debt—as every state is authorized to do—or provide Puerto Rico with fair treatment under federal programs, I will adamantly oppose such an unbalanced package and it will not become law. I am willing to support a package that provides meaningful federal oversight of the Puerto Rico government’s fiscal practices, but only if it is paired with better—that is, more state-like—treatment of Puerto Rico.
“Over the years, Congress has a history of trying to provide Puerto Rico with ‘special’ treatment, and these efforts—whether well-intentioned or ill-intentioned—almost always end up harming Puerto Rico. My constituents are not laboratory rats upon whom the federal government should be undertaking policy experiments. Equality is the best policy.”
Pierluisi Statement on Announcement of Upcoming Hearing on Puerto Rico in the House Subcommittee on Insular Affairs | Res. Comm. Pedro Pierluisi
No comments:
Post a Comment