By: Susan Jones
Puerto Rico’s long-running and worsening debt crisis now appears at the top of Washington’s “to-do” list.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), and White House spokesman Josh Earnest all mentioned it on Wednesday.
“You know, I think the Puerto Rico issue is something a lot of us are concerned about,” McConnell told a news conference. “We have a lot of discussion about what to do, and as long as it doesn’t involve the use of federal tax dollars, I think it is something we ought to try to figure out some way forward on.
“Exactly what the way forward is at this point, I’m not sure,” McConnell continued. “But we certainly agree that it’s a big problem, and we need to see what role, if any, we should play in it.”
“The Puerto Rican debt crisis is something we need to address,” Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid told a news conference. “I think the only thing that’s going to work is allowing them to restructure their debt.”