I was unavoidably detained for rollcall vote No. 111 on confirmation of PN576. Had I been present, I would have voted yea. ____________________

I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded. The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered. PROMESA

I come to the floor, as I have many times over the last nearly half a year, to talk about the challenges the people of Puerto Rico have. I came to the floor last week to ask consent to bring to the floor the bill that the House of…

I thank the Senator for his concern and his points. Mr. President, I have come to the floor time and time again with a simple message: PROMESA, the name of this legislation, which means ``promise'' in Spanish, is not a promise. It is a…

Well, I don't understand why there are no amendments or floor debate. And I want to take my colleague's question to make some final points that I think are important. I have talked to some of our colleagues, and they have said: Well, what…

My colleague is absolutely right. Even at a time when there is not enough money for essential services and the dramatic cutbacks that have already taken place for the people's health, education, and safety, we are going to impose upon them…

Nice. It is a real concern. It is one of the many ill- defined parts of the legislation, especially when you have 7 unelected members ultimately having the fate of 3.5 million people in their hands. You worry about provisions of the bill…

It is possible that even after a majority of the board, four or five members--well, four members would be a majority--would ultimately put Puerto Rico through a series of hurdles. Let's say it even meets those hurdles. A minority of the…

I appreciate the Senator raising the question. First of all, the Senator from Washington State is absolutely right that it is not a bailout. A bailout is when I give you money to pay your debts. That is a bailout. A pathway to…

What the Senator said is absolutely right, and this is one of the critical elements of why a clear pathway to restructuring is so necessary, because if there is no clear pathway to restructuring and if there are no safeguards over the…

I appreciate my colleague's point. I will reiterate. First, the people of Puerto Rico are U.S. citizens. They can take a flight to the United States, and they have all the rights, privileges, and responsibilities as any other U.S. citizen…

I appreciate the Senator raising the numbers and the statistics. Unfortunately, I am aware of them. They dramatize why what we do here is so critically important for the 3.5 million U.S. citizens who call Puerto Rico home. When the per…