Hoyer: Dems agree with Sanders on Puerto Rico — to a point

Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) on Tuesday said House Democrats agree with the criticisms Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) is lobbing at legislation designed to help Puerto Rico weather its debt storm. But on a vital point, the sides will split.

Sanders is vowing to oppose the bill, while House Democrats will hold their noses and support it.

“We agree with Mr. Sanders’s unhappiness; we don’t agree with his conclusion,” Hoyer, the Democratic whip, said during a press briefing in the Capitol. “We need to get this done.”

Unveiled Wednesday, after weeks of tough negotiations and extended delays, the bipartisan legislation would empower Puerto Rico to restructure its $70 billion debt amid an escalating fiscal crisis.

Throughout the talks, liberal Democrats had voiced strong concerns surrounding numerous issues, including efforts to lower Puerto Rico’s minimum wage, prioritize bondholders over pensioners and create an oversight board they feared was too powerful.

Sanders announced Friday that the bipartisan deal failed to mollify his concerns, saying the proposal lends too much sway both to the oversight board and to the Republican leaders who would help fill it.

“We must never give an unelected control board the power to balance Puerto Rico’s budget on the backs of children, senior citizens, the sick and the most vulnerable people in Puerto Rico while giving the people of Puerto Rico absolutely no say at all in the process,” he said. 

“We must stop treating Puerto Rico like a colony and start treating the American citizens of Puerto Rico with the respect and dignity that they deserve.”

Hoyer on Tuesday echoed Sanders’s broadsides surrounding the oversight board. 

“We think the restructuring board may, in fact, impose an impediment to the implementation of the restructuring that is so badly needed. We also believe that the board powers to override the local officials [goes] too far,” he said. 

Puerto Rico defaulted on roughly $367 million of debt at the beginning of May, and a much larger default will come on July 1 if Congress doesn’t act.

It’s that urgency, Hoyer said, that’s uniting Democrats around legislation they simply don’t like.

“To delay further, to not pass legislation, even this legislation, which we believe is not what it ought to be and is flawed, would be more dangerous than passing it and giving [Puerto Rico] some path toward restructuring so that when we get to July 1 default will not occur,” he said.

Most liberal Democrats, including Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-Ariz.), are siding with Hoyer and Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), arguing that the bill is better than the alternative of doing nothing. 

Rep. Luis Gutiérrez is one exception. The Illinois Democrat, raised partly in Puerto Rico, announced on Tuesday he’ll join Sanders in opposing the measure. He cited concerns with the minimum wage and overtime provisions, as well as a restructuring apparatus he says is tilted too far in favor of bondholders.

“I cannot support this legislation because it runs counter to basic values of democracy, fairness and justice,” Gutiérrez said.

The House Natural Resources Committee began considering the bill on Tuesday, and is expected to vote Wednesday to send it to the floor.