Bernie Sanders to Senate Democrats: Do You Stand with Puerto Rico or with Wall Street?

[imagine2015]

Sanders to Senate Dems: Do You Stand with Puerto Rico or with Wall Street?
"We must not balance Puerto Rico's budget on the backs of children, senior citizens, the sick, and the most vulnerable people in Puerto Rico."
by Deirdre Fulton, staff writer
May 23, 2016

As a U.S. House committee prepares to take up the Puerto Rico Oversight, Management and Economic Stability Act (PROMESA) on Tuesday, Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders is calling on his U.S. Senate colleagues to oppose the bill, which he says "would make a terrible situation even worse."

In a letter to Senate Democrats issued Monday, Sanders said: "We have an important choice to make. Do we stand with the working people of Puerto Rico or do we stand with Wall Street and the Tea Party? The choice could not be clearer."

After the latest version of the bill was unveiled last week, Sanders blasted the creation of this "undemocratic board," which he said "would have the power to slash pensions, cut education and health care, and increase taxes on working families in Puerto Rico."

"Even worse, Majority Leader McConnell and Speaker [Paul] Ryan would be in charge of handpicking a majority of the control board's members," Sanders said at the time, "while the people of Puerto Rico would be in charge of choosing none. That may make sense to the Tea Party and one of the largest trade groups representing Wall Street—groups that endorsed this legislation—but it makes absolutely no sense to me."

He doubled down on that critique in his letter on Monday, noting that right-wing organizations like Tea Party Forward and a major Wall Street trade group representing Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, JP Morgan Chase, and Bank of America endorsed the bill.

http://www.commondreams.org/news/2016/05/23/sanders-senate-dems-do-you-stand-puerto-rico-or-wall-street

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Newsroom
Press Releases
05/23/16
Sanders to Senate Democrats: Do We Stand With Puerto Rico or Wall Street and the Tea Party?

WASHINGTON, May 23 – Sen. Bernie Sanders called on his Democratic colleagues in the Senate to oppose legislation introduced in the House of Representatives last week that would establish a control board to oversee Puerto Rico’s financial crisis.

“We have an important choice to make,” Sanders wrote in a letter to Senate Democrats, “do we stand with the working people of Puerto Rico or do we stand with Wall Street and the Tea Party? The choice could not be clearer.”

According to Sanders, the House’s bill, H.R. 5278, “would make a terrible situation even worse” by requiring the governor of Puerto Rico to submit a fiscal plan to an unelected oversight board comprised of seven members, a majority of whom would be chosen by Republican leadership. The people of Puerto Rico would choose none of the members.

The oversight board would be empowered to enact its own fiscal plan to cut the budget, slash pensions, raise taxes, privatize and sell public assets and work to restructure debt without the approval of Puerto Rico’s democratically elected government. Instead of responding to the needs of Puerto Ricans, the legislation requires that any restructuring of Puerto Rico’s debt be “in the best interest of creditors.”

H.R. 5278 would also exclude Puerto Rico from the Department of Labor’s new overtime rules and allow the governor of Puerto Rico to slash the minimum wage to just $4.25 an hour for a period of up to five years.

Right-wing organizations, including Tea Party Forward and Americans for Tax Fairness, and a major Wall Street trade group representing Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, JP Morgan Chase and Bank of America endorsed the bill. Unions representing over 13 million workers, however, strongly oppose the proposed legislation.

“We must make it clear that hedge fund managers on Wall Street cannot get a 100 percent return on Puerto Rican bonds they purchased for as little as 29 cents on the dollar yielding interest rates of up to 34 percent,” Sanders wrote, “while the budget for hungry children in Puerto Rico would be cut.”

Sanders, instead, urged his colleagues to work with him on an alternative to the Puerto Rico Oversight, Management and Economic Stability Act “that protects the interests of the people in Puerto Rico, the workers, the elderly, the children and the sick – and not just Wall Street vulture funds.”

To assist Puerto Rico, Sanders proposed giving the U.S. territory the same authority granted to every municipality in the country to restructure its debt under the supervision of a bankruptcy court. If an independent audit currently underway in Puerto Rico finds that any of its $70 billion debt was issued in violation of its Constitution, Sanders said that it should be “immediately set aside.”

Sanders also called on the Federal Reserve to provide loans to the island’s public utilities and purchase new bonds to facilitate an orderly restructuring of Puerto Rico's $70 billion debt, require major "haircuts" for Wall Street vulture funds, and give Puerto Rico the time it needs to grow its economy, create jobs, and expand its tax base.

“The time has come for the Federal Reserve and the Treasury Department to be just as creative in finding solutions to help the 3.5 million American citizens in Puerto Rico as they were in rescuing the largest financial institutions in this country and throughout the world in 2008,” Sanders wrote.

“We must stop treating Puerto Rico like a colony and start treating the American citizens of Puerto Rico with the respect and dignity that they deserve during this very difficult period.”

To read Sanders’ letter, click here.
http://www.sanders.senate.gov/download/we-must-stop-treating-puerto-rico-like-a-colony?inline=file

http://www.sanders.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/sanders-to-senate-democrats-do-we-stand-with-puerto-rico-or-wall-street-and-the-tea-party

[liberal_at_heart]

1. HELL YEAH! Call them out Bernie!

[Scootaloo]

2. Rhetorical question, I suppose n/t

[arcane1]

4. Exactly. Sad but true n/t

[vintx]

3. This is leadership nt

[stillwaiting]

5. Why is Bernie against some good old-fashioned bipartisanship?

Once again, Bernie is one of the very few elected politicians FIGHTING for average citizens well-being. Even if it goes against Wall Street's interests.

[CrispyQ]

6. I am speechless.

The oversight board would be empowered to enact its own fiscal plan to cut the budget, slash pensions, raise taxes, privatize and sell public assets and work to restructure debt without the approval of Puerto Rico’s democratically elected government.

on edit: from another link:

"While I have serious concerns about several provisions in this bill, including the creation of an oversight board that would exert substantial control over Puerto Rico, I believe thatwe must move forward with this legislation. Otherwise, without any means of addressing this crisis, too many Puerto Ricans will continue to suffer," said Clinton, former Secretary of State.

http://www.elnuevodia.com/noticias/politica/nota/democratsunderpressure-2201385/

Probably lots of good business opportunities in Puerto Rico about to sprout.

[imagine2015]

8. Once again Hillary Clinton sides with Wall Street and against working people.

Gee. I wonder why? It's a mystery to me.

[TheProgressive]

7. This shows what kind of President Senator Sanders would be...

A President Sanders would be publicly fighting *for the people*.

This shows how he will advance his policies and positions.

[CharlotteVale]

9. To ask this question is to answer it.