WASHINGTON – The Senate Judiciary Committee will hold a hearing on Dec. 1 to explore Puerto Rico's fiscal problems and the potential options that are available to help the island, panel chair Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, announced Thursday.
The hearing is to be held the same day that Puerto Rico's Government Development Bank is expected to default on debt service payments for $355 million of notes, according to Moody's Investors Service.
The hearing witnesses will be announced at a later date, according to a statement from the senator.
Grassley said his goal for the hearing is "to help committee members and the public identify and gain a better understanding of the root cause of Puerto Rico's fiscal problems, discuss what's currently being done, and consider what options are available that could help Puerto Rico get itself out of the present situations."
Republican lawmakers have been reluctant to act as Puerto Rico's debt crisis continues to worsen. The island has about $72 billion of debt outstanding.
Sens. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., and Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., proposed a bill in July that would extend Chapter 9 bankruptcy powers to Puerto Rico's public authorities, but the bill is currently sitting in the Judiciary Committee. An identical bill, introduced in February by Puerto Rico's Resident Commissioner Pedro Pierluisi, D-P.R., is also stuck in the House Judiciary Committee.
Grassley and other Republicans have consistently said they oppose Chapter 9 bankruptcy protection for Puerto Rico. The Iowa senator said bankruptcy would be "throwing taxpayer money at the island, without ensuring the creation and implementation of structural and fiscal reform" in his Thursday statement announcing the hearing. He added that bankruptcy "fails to resolve the underlying problems in Puerto Rico required to create economic growth."
The Dec. 1 hearing will be the third by a Senate committee on the topic of Puerto Rico's debt. The Senate Committee on Natural Resources held a hearing Oct. 22 and the Senate Finance Committee held one on Sept. 29. At each hearing, Republican lawmakers criticized calls for action, including the Treasury Department's four-part plan for Puerto Rico that included extending Chapter 9 bankruptcy access to the entire territory.
