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May 3, 2016

White House Calls for Congress to Act as Puerto Rico Defaults on Debt Payment
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The White House has called for Congress to take urgent action on Puerto
Rico's debt crisis as the island defaulted on the bulk of a $422 million
debt payment. White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest spoke Monday.

Josh Earnest: "The situation gets worse by the day. And in some days, in
some situations, the-in some days, the situation gets notably worse. And
it only makes a bailout more likely, which is why, you know, we continue
to press hard for Republicans in Congress to stop dragging their feet
and to address a situation that's having a negative impact on more than
3 million Americans who live in Puerto Rico."

Monday's default represents only a fraction of Puerto Rico's $70 billion
debt. Puerto Rican Governor Alejandro García Padilla echoed calls for
congressional action.

Gov. Alejandro García Padilla: "We are going to end up in the hands of
judges, both from here and from outside, federal and local judges, from
Puerto Rico or from other parts of the United States. Recently, we had a
federal judge that upon the choice of giving $115 million to Puerto Rico
or to Wal-Mart, he opted for Wal-Mart. We are at the mercy of that type
of decision. Congress needs to act."



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