Congress: Debt relief should help, not hurt Puerto Rico
Join in a National Call-in Day on Wednesday, April 27!
We are joining with Jubilee USA to help organize tens of thousands of people to call Congress and urge solutions to Puerto Rico’s crisis that protect the vulnerable.
Use the Justice and Peace Action Network tool to identify and call your member of Congress.
When you call, identify yourself as a person of faith with strong ties to partners in Puerto Rico. Tell your member of Congress not to pass the current control board legislation. Urge the instead to support legislation that includes the following:
- very strong debt restructuring tools
- clear targets to reduce child poverty
- solutions that respect local democracy
- strong budget transparency provisions
Take Action! Call your Member of Congress to tell them any debt relief legislation should protect rather than punish the people of Puerto Rico
Congress is debating legislation that would place Puerto Rico under a restrictive Fiscal Control Board that would do more to ensure funds are used to repay creditors than to provide essential services to the people of Puerto Rico. Call the Capitol Switchboard at (202) 224-3121 and ask for the office of your Representative in the House. Tell them you support an agreement for Puerto Rico that allows them fairly and fully to restructure their debt and prioritizes a plan to meet basic social service needs on the island.
Puerto Rico civil society organizations and religious leaders, including Global Ministries’ partners, have rejected the proposed legislation, and especially the Fiscal Control Board that they claim undermines their rule of law and establishes a neo-colonial model of administration.
See
- “IT AIN’T PRETTY” denounced Church leaders on the proposed solutions to Puerto Rico fiscal crisis
- Jubilee USA Alert on Puerto Rico debt proposal
Puerto Rico is a U.S. territory and its 3.5 million U.S. citizens are facing a humanitarian crisis. Nearly 50% of the island lives in poverty and nearly 10% have left for the U.S. mainland. More than 100 schools closed in 2015 as the government has made austerity budget cuts in order to pay its debt obligations. As the Centers for Disease Control warns of the threat of a Zika virus epidemic on the island, it is urgent that funding for health care and community services are a priority.
Tell your member of Congress not to pass the current control board legislation. Urge them to support a bill that respects the rights and economic security of Puerto Ricans, that provides adequate debt restructuring tools so that the government does not remain in long-term debt bondage, and that ensures the well-being of the people, and especially the poor, on the island.
Learn more: