On the recordJune 29, 2016
as we all now know, the government of Puerto Rico has run up an astounding debt of around $70 billion and has more than $40 billion in virtually unfunded pension promises. To address this financial challenge, the Senate has taken up legislation to provide greater oversight of the territory's finances and some broad debt-resolution authority. That bill, which the authors entitled the ``Puerto Rico Oversight, Management, and Economic Stability Act,'' or PROMESA, is certainly not something I would have written and in many areas leaves a lot to be desired. Nonetheless, I voted to invoke cloture on the bill because, thanks to the stubbornness of the Treasury Department and lack of transparency from the government of Puerto Rico, it is the only option on the table, and delaying action would only hurt the Americans who reside on the island. Astoundingly, the government of Puerto Rico has not provided audited financial statements since 2013, despite its responsibilities to do so under continuing disclosure requirements and multiple requests from Congress and investors. The territory's debt challenges have been center stage here in Congress for about a year now, and throughout that time we have received only stale, largely useless, and untrustworthy information regarding Puerto Rico's finances. In fact, some of the disclosures have been downright insulting.…
