cnn | Puerto Ricans feel like second class citizens in the United States.
That's the message Puerto Rico's lone Congressman, Rep. Pedro
Pierluisi, had for his colleagues Tuesday in a harsh rebuke of Congress'
treatment of Puerto Rico.
"If you treat us like second class citizens,
don't expect us to have a first class economy," Pierluisi said to the
Senate Finance Committee in a hearing. "Congress treats Puerto Rico in a
discriminatory fashion under numerous programs."
Pierluisi has a point. The island is in the midst of a massive a debt crisis after having defaulted in August, and Congress isn't helping out much.
Puerto Rico owes $72 billion to its creditors and the island's
governor, Alejandro Garcia Padilla, says the debts can't be paid.
High-skilled Puerto Ricans are leaving the island for mainland U.S. for
better-paying jobs.
The commonwealth's government offered an extensive plan to pay back its debt in early September, but even that falls short by $14 billion
of what's needed. The governor is demanding that Puerto Rico have
chapter 9 bankruptcy rights and that its creditors take a steep
discount.
"We cannot allow them to force us to choose between
paying for our police, our teachers, our nurses, and paying our debt,"
Padilla said in a televised announcement on June 29.
