Sean Duffy: “I thank Congressman Bishop and the whole Natural Resources Committee for all of the hard work they put into this bill.…”

“I thank Congressman Bishop and the whole Natural Resources Committee for all of the hard work they put into this bill. This has been a months-long process of working with Democrats and Republicans, the administration, Treasury, Puerto Rican elected officials, all coming together to negotiate, to discuss, to philosophize and then eventually come up with what I think is an excellent resolution to the burning crisis in Puerto Rico. I want to take a moment to talk about what is actually happening on the island. Puerto Rico is $73 billion in debt. That is over 100 percent of GNP. They have almost $2 billion of unpaid bills to their vendors. So what does that mean? That means schools are closing down because we don't have fuel for energy in the schools or for school buses. Hospital wings are closing. Emergency vehicles aren't being run because the island doesn't have money to pay its bills. This is a true economic crisis. It is a true humanitarian crisis that is taking place in Puerto Rico. So the question becomes: Does this institution act to help Puerto Rico, or do we continue to negotiate and refine and tweak a bill that will never come to the floor, that will never make it to the Senate, that will never gain the President's signature? Do we let perfect be the enemy of the good?…”