Puerto Rico

Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., and several other Senate Democrats introduced two bills on Monday to give Puerto Rico broad restructuring powers as well as better federal tax and healthcare treatment, but the legislative package is likely to face stiff resistance in Congress where many Republicans have opposed territory-wide debt adjustments.

The Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority is preparing to privately place $111 million in bonds by March 28.

The Puerto Rico House of Representatives passed a bill to help the Puerto Rico Aqueduct and Sewer Authority Thursday.

Puerto Rico Gov. Alejandro García Padilla said a senior member of U.S. House Speaker Paul Ryan’s legislative delegation reaffirmed a commitment to prompt action that would give the commonwealth the tools for a debt restructuring.

The chairman of the Puerto Rico House Treasury and Budget Committee called for major tax changes including $1.2 billion in tax cuts and spending measures.

Puerto Rico will delay an increase in a business-to-business services tax by at least two months to allow more time to consider alternatives.

Standard & Poor's Ratings Services said its CCC-minus ratings on Puerto Rico Aqueduct & Sewer Authority's senior-lien revenue bonds and commonwealth-supported debt remain on CreditWatch with negative implications.

To keep current on its own bonds Puerto Rico Aqueduct and Sewer Authority may divert money owed to the Puerto Rico Infrastructure and Finance Authority, the Government Development Bank for Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Amid growing political opposition Governor Alejandro García Padilla may exercise his option for a 60 day delay.

House Natural Resources Committee chair Rob Bishop, R-Utah, visited Puerto Rico Friday as part of a multi-day trip to meet with commonwealth officials and groups as Congress continues to debate a reasonable solution for the territory’s fiscal problems.

Puerto Rico Gov. Alejandro García Padilla this week bristled at a deadline to provide information to the U.S. Congress, while a candidate to succeed the governor sent an unsolicited response to the information request.

Experts and Puerto Rican lawmakers are encouraging Congress and commonwealth officials to include fiscal responsibility laws in any legislative package designed to help the island.

Citizens are bearing the brunt of the crisis, a report from the advocacy group Hedge Clippers finds, as the government slashes spending on health care, legal services, pensions and education.

Unless the United States Congress acts to modify Puerto Rico’s required debt payments, Puerto Rico won’t make the full May bond payment, Puerto Rico Gov. Alejandro García Padilla said.

Opposition is growing in Puerto Rico to a planned April 1 increase in business to business consumption taxes.

In the second in a series of promised visits by U.S. cabinet secretaries to Puerto Rico, Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx on Thursday announced steps to speed Federal aid to highway projects on the island.

Legislators are coalescing around a federal oversight authority for Puerto Rico that could take concerns over the commonwealth’s debt, pension, and economic crises and forge unique solutions using congressionally approved oversight and restructuring capabilities.

Creditors of the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority are focused on the passage of a rate increase as the first of several remaining restructuring deal hurdles.

The leader of a Puerto Rico corruption conspiracy pled guilty Thursday.

The House will hold two simultaneous hearings about Puerto Rico on Feb. 25 before legislators are expected to begin a drafting process for a legislative solution for the commonwealth.