The Puerto Rican Senate and the House of Representatives have both passed an emergency declaration authorizing the governor to suspend payments on $72 billion in public debt — setting up a dramatic showdown between Puerto Rico and hedge funds amid the island’s historic debt crisis. The bill authorizes the Puerto Rican governor to “protect the health, security and public welfare … [by] using government funds first and foremost for public services.” The dramatic move comes one day after a group of hedge funds sued to freeze the assets of Puerto Rico’s Government Development Bank in efforts to stop the bank from spending money on the island that the hedge funds want to go toward upcoming debt payments.
TRANSCRIPT
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AMY GOODMAN: The Puerto Rican Senate and the House of Representatives there have both passed an emergency declaration authorizing the governor suspend payments on $72 billion in public debt, setting up a dramatic showdown between Puerto Rico and hedge funds amidst the island’s historic debt crisis. The bill authorizes the Puerto Rican governor to, quote, “protect the health, security and public welfare … [by] using government funds first and foremost for public services.” The dramatic move comes one day after a group of hedge funds sued to freeze the assets of Puerto Rico’s Government Development Bank in efforts to stop the bank from spending money on the island that the hedge funds want to go toward upcoming debt payments.
Juan, you write about this in your column in the New York Daily News. Talk about the significance of what just took place last — what, this morning.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: Right. Well, I had a column last night, and the final result was not clear yet, because on Tuesday morning, the Puerto Rico Senate, at 2:30 in the morning, approved a moratorium on debt, declared, in effect, an emergency, a public emergency, in Puerto Rico and authorized the governor, under the Constitution, to suspend…