Political Quotes

“In the last year and a half, this Congress has held nine hearings on Puerto Rico, a U.S. territory, home to 3.4 million American citizens. These hearings confirmed that Puerto Rico is in jeopardy right now. Not next year. Now. Island residents are relocating to the States in unprecedented numbers. The Puerto Rican Government is on the brink of collapse, a victim of decades of inequality at the Federal level and mismanagement at the local level. The government and its instrumentalities have $70 billion in bonded debt, three public entities on the island have already defaulted on payments to creditors, and larger defaults appear imminent. Puerto Rico's three main pension systems are severely underfunded, placing at risk the retirement security of over 330,000 individuals. The government of Puerto Rico has lost access to the credit markets, so it cannot borrow money to meet current obligations. All objective observers, including virtually every major editorial board in the Nation, understand that the government of Puerto Rico must restructure its debts--ideally, through voluntary agreements with creditors, but through a court-supervised process, if necessary. It is regrettable that we have reached this point, but it is reality. We must confront this challenge with courage and candor.…”