Puerto Rico’s finances are poised to be controlled by what critics dub “a colonial control board” after the U.S. Senate on Wednesday advanced the so-called PROMESA legislation.
The motion for cloture passed 68-32, which “makes final passage of the legislation a virtual certainty,” The Hill reports.
It’s “identical to the plan passed by the House of Representatives this month,” as Reuters reports, and comes just two days ahead of the deadline for the territory to make $2 billion of bond payments.
The White House has also indicated President Barack Obama would sign the measure.
Puerto Rico owes $72 billion in debt, but as a U.S. territory is ineligible for federal bankruptcy protection. According to geopolitical analyst Eric Draitser,
Religious development coalition Jubilee USA has urged the Senate to vote for final passage on the measure, with Eric LeCompte, its executive director, saying Monday, “If legislation doesn’t pass before July 1st, we are opening the door for vulture funds to exploit Puerto Rico.”
Democracy Now! host Juan Gonzalez, meanwhile, said that while the bill “would establish a means for Puerto Rico to restructure its $72 billion in debt,” it would also impose “a colonial control board.”
The “rescue package” would also allow for the minimum wage to be slashed for some workers.
Gonzalez said Wednesday, “it’s astonishing to me how so many liberals in this country, who rail about American aggression abroad, are being so silent over this absolute imposition of colonial control by the United States government over the affairs of Puerto Rico. And Jack Lew, the secretary of treasury, spent almost all day yesterday basically meeting with Democratic senators to convince them, to pressure them to support this bill.”
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