Joint Statement from Congressman Boyle and Councilwoman Quiñones-Sánchez On National Day of Action for Puerto Rico

Washington, DC– Today, Congressman Brendan Boyle (D-PA-13) joined dozens of national elected, community, labor and faith leaders for a National Day of Action for Puerto Rico to urge Congress to pass legislation addressing the growing fiscal and humanitarian crisis. The Congressman is pleased to partner with Philadelphia City Councilwoman Maria Quiñones-Sánchez to highlight this very important issue. Councilwoman Quiñones-Sánchez lead a coalition from Pennsylvania to join in the call for action.

"It is extremely important that we stand with Puerto Rico in restructuring its unsustainable debt burden," said Congressman Boyle. "We also need to help them grow their economy so that Puerto Ricans can focus on the essential work of investing in a brighter economic future. The inequitable treatment by the federal government has constrained Puerto Rico's ability to restructure its debt through an orderly court-supervised process. It is essential that Congress grants the government of Puerto Rico the legal authority to restructure the territory's public debt."

Councilwoman Maria Quiñones Sánchez of Philadelphia stated that "a historic coalition of Puerto Rican leaders and allies have asked The President and Congress to provide the tools for Puerto Rico to recover from this crisis, which include; Allowing the government to file for Chapter 9 Bankruptcy to restructure its debt (An authority the island's government had until 1984), Creating parody for the Medicare and Medicaid reimbursements under the Affordable Care Act, and extending the Earned Income Tax Credit and Child Income Tax Credit to the 3.5 Million U.S. citizens on the island."