Republicans in the U.S. Congress proposed their first measures to help Puerto Rico as it swiftly runs out of cash, responding to pleas from the islands government and the Obama administration.
Senate committee chairs including Orrin Hatch, the head of the finance panel, filed a bill Wednesday to direct up to $3 billion to Puerto Rico through a new authority that would oversee the islands budget and could borrow on its behalf. Representative Sean Duffy, who sits on the House Financial Services committee, also introduced legislation to give Puerto Rico agencies the ability to file for municipal bankruptcy, a provision thats absent in the Senate bill.
Congress decided to move, said Phil Fischer, head of municipal research at Bank of America …
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