The original content of Democracy Now! Headlines appears under the Creative
Commons BY-NC-ND 3.0 License (United States). For more, including their other
shows and media, visit www.democracynow.org.
September 1, 2015

Puerto Rico: Religious Leaders Call on Federal Reserve for Debt Help 
---------------------------------------------------------------------


 
Puerto Rico's top religious leaders are calling on the Federal Reserve
to restructure the territory's $72 billion debt in order to avoid
dramatic austerity measures. In August, Puerto Rico failed to make a $58
million debt payment, pushing the territory into default. Hedge funds
that are heavily invested in Puerto Rico have called on the territory to
raise taxes and slash funding for education, even though Puerto Rico has
already closed almost 100 schools in 2015 alone. On Monday, 18 top
religious leaders cited the biblical notion of jubilee to call for debt
relief. They also threw their support behind a bill before Congress that
would allow Puerto Rico to declare a limited bankruptcy, a move
currently permitted only for cities and municipalities inside U.S.
states.

 

.