Puerto Rico

The Supreme Court on Monday issued an opinion affirming that a local Puerto Rico debt restructuring law is unconstitutional, leaving congressional action on a House bill as the most viable option left for the struggling commonwealth to deal with its debt crisis.

The full Senate is expected to take up the Puerto Rico bill passed by the House and vote on it before the end of the month or in early July.

A House bill designed to help Puerto Rico will now move to the Senate after House members passed the bill 297 to 127 during a session that stretched into early Thursday evening.

In a decision on Thursday the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that Puerto Rico enjoys most types of sovereignty but not a type relevant to the criminal case at hand.

The full House is expected to vote today on a bill designed to help Puerto Rico after the House Rules Committee set the table for the bill's consideration during a lengthy hearing that stretched into Wednesday night.

Puerto Rico chief financial officer Melba Acosta Febo said Puerto Rico may pay some, but probably not all, of the commonwealth’s general obligation bond debt due July 1.

Observers of Puerto Rico politics say that Ricardo Rosselló Nevares’ win in Sunday’s gubernatorial primary was a victory for a more aggressive pursuit of statehood.

Puerto Rico’s main employee retirement system slipped to a 0.27% funded ratio in the most recent audited statement and has since fallen into a deficit, according to its auditor.

Presidential candidate and Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., has vowed to introduce an alternative bill to one pending before the House that CBO says would cost the territory $370 million over ten years.

A government-appointed commission is suggesting that much of Puerto Rico’s debt may have been sold illegally.