Unanimous Consent Request

Floor Speech

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Mr. WYDEN. Mr. President, I very much appreciate Chairman Hatch's willingness to work with all of us--Senator Schumer, Senator Gillibrand, Senator Menendez, and myself--the many Senators who care deeply about this issue.

My view is that the situation in Puerto Rico will get far, far worse, particularly with inaction. That is why it is so important for this body to come together, Democrats and Republicans, and move quickly.

As Chairman Hatch has noted, we have been working on this in the Finance Committee. We are appreciative of Chairman Hatch's willingness to listen to colleagues on both sides of the aisle, and I think it is fair to say we have made some tangible progress.

Recently, the talks have bogged down, in particular because of efforts to change national programs that have nothing to do with Puerto Rico. I wish to emphasize what has been the challenge in recent days. We are trying to deal with the very real and significant questions facing Puerto Rico. Some have said in order to do that, you would have to make substantial changes in national programs.

One of the reasons I wanted to speak briefly on the floor this morning is I believe that any legislation to assist Puerto Rico needs to be focused on the territory and not get into unrelated provisions. In addition, any legislation to assist Puerto Rico ought to include some type of debt restructuring authority. Unfortunately, I think things have moved past the point where any sort of austerity in Puerto Rico can allow them to climb out of debt without causing a humanitarian crisis. That is why some type of debt restructuring is so important.

Wrapping up, I also wish to point out that debt restructuring and debt restructuring authority does not add a penny to the Federal deficit. In my discussions with Chairman Hatch--and we are very appreciative of our relationship and discussions we have had--that has been very important to him. So I do want to point out that debt restructuring authority does not add one penny to the Federal deficit.

This issue is too important to get lost in yet another partisan fight. I am going to work closely with our many colleagues, the two Senators from New York, Senator Menendez, who knows an enormous amount about this issue, and the chairman because, as I touched on in my statement, things will get much, much worse and sooner than people think, in my view, if Congress fails to act.

With that, I yield the floor.

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