[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 162 (2016), Part 3]
[House]
[Pages 4318-4319]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  1015
                              PUERTO RICO

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Illinois (Mr. Gutierrez) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. GUTIERREZ. Mr. Speaker, as we were reminded yesterday by the 
Speaker of the House, Puerto Rico is a U.S. territory, and the 
Constitution explicitly gives Congress the power to ``make all needful 
rules and regulations respecting the territory and other property 
belonging to the U.S.''
  Treating Puerto Rico as property is just what is being proposed by 
the Republicans in addressing the Puerto Rico debt crisis. My friend 
here, King George of England, would be very proud.
  I will say, the Governor of Puerto Rico has been working hard to help 
move a bill forward. He and his staff have been honest and tireless 
brokers, trying to resolve a crisis decades in the making. He should be 
commended.
  But what the Governor and the people of Puerto Rico need are the same 
protections that any U.S. citizen has when their local government is in 
crisis and bondholders are circling and demanding payments. Puerto Rico 
needs the ability to restructure her debt so that the bondholders get 
something instead of nothing on their investment, the local government 
is not crippled, and the people are not faced with the collapse of 
their basic services.
  Congress, the colonial power, took away the ability to declare 
bankruptcy, so that was never an option--a move worthy of King George 
himself.
  Yes, in the bill the Republicans put forward, there is a 
restructuring of Puerto Rico's debt. There is even a temporary stay of 
the debt payments for a short period of time. But at what cost?
  As I understand it, the debt restructuring for Puerto Rico would only 
take place if two-thirds of the bondholders on Wall Street approve. So 
Wall Street fat cats can literally veto what Republicans are proposing. 
On Wall Street, the fat cats know their Maseratis and yachts are safe, 
even if Puerto Rican schoolbuses, hospitals, and roads fall into 
further disrepair. They will live like kings, just like my buddy here, 
King George. They even bragged about it at the hearing yesterday, 
saying that the market ``responded positively'' when the Republican 
bill was introduced, because it signaled that Republicans have Wall 
Street's back, protecting the profits of the hedge funds.
  I simply do not see things in the Republican bill that justify 
relinquishing what little sovereignty Puerto Rico has left to an 
unelected Federal control board. It is a new level of colonial rule on 
top of what Washington already has, what Washington already misuses, 
what Washington usually rather ignores. King George of England would

[[Page 4319]]

be pleased that, even after 250 years, the U.S. Congress, this 
Congress, created to replace his tyrannical rule, has so fully embraced 
colonialism for its distant territories.
  As Speaker Ryan said yesterday, the fact that Puerto Rico's 
government is ``ceding its authority to the Financial Control Board is 
a huge, but necessary, move that will ensure Puerto Rico will learn 
fiscal discipline from a board of experts.''
  Oh, yes, those poor islanders, those uncivilized Puerto Ricans, will 
see how it is done up close and personal.
  The board will have the power to reduce the minimum wage, block 
overtime rules, block laws, regulations, and government contracts 
approved by the island's democratically elected government. It can 
overrule the legislature and the Governor if it does not like the 
budget, and it can fast-track energy projects at the expense of the 
environment.
  Does that sound familiar to you, Your Highness, King George?
  Get this: Congress can impose a control board on Puerto Rico that can 
hire whomever they want, at whatever salary they want, and the people 
of Puerto Rico have to pay to for it--period, punto--100 percent. The 
control board is paid for by those it controls. If that is not 
colonialism, I don't know what is. It is so good, King George here 
would be jealous.
  As if to add insult to injury, the bill addresses Vieques, the island 
off the coast of Puerto Rico that the U.S. Navy bombed for decades. It 
turns over the land with no conditions.
  Now, I am all for the people of Puerto Rico having control of the 
lands of Puerto Rico; but in the current crisis, without protection, we 
all know what is going to happen. Hotels, restaurants, and businesses 
seeking to profit will be looking for bargain prices and will be out to 
profiteer, just like the pirates who used to control those waters.
  Mr. Speaker, the people of Puerto Rico want jobs and an economy that 
allows them to live on the island and thrive; but so far, all the 
Republican majority has offered is more colonial oversight, more 
austerity, and more misery.
  I once again say this Congress should reject the King George approach 
and free Puerto Rico so that its hardworking people can build the 
island. We should put them--yes, the people--above all other creditors, 
bondholders, and profit seekers. That ought to be our priority. The 
schoolchildren, the elderly, the working men and women, the police on 
the beat, they need us to stand up for them as human beings, and I call 
on my colleagues to join me in doing just that.

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