WASHINGTON, D.C. – A report released last week by the Puerto Rico Commission for the Comprehensive Audit of the Public Credit claims that Puerto Rico may have issued billions of dollars of debt unconstitutionally. In response, the Center for Individual Freedom (“CFIF”) released the following statement:
 
“Unsurprisingly, the Puerto Rico government is following the lead of recalcitrant debtors in Latin America by issuing a government-commissioned report to claim that a significant portion of its debt – billions of dollars – was issued illegally. The purpose of such a claim is the government’s hope that it could declare those bonds invalid so creditors could not fight to legally protect their investments. That the report received significant support from the SEIU, which has an obvious and vested interest in seeing pension funds receive preferential treatment over bondholders, regardless of the law, further exemplifies its obviously political nature.
 
“This ‘audit’ report is just another tactic by the Garcia Padilla Administration to try to skirt the rule of law and its obligations to the savers and retirees throughout Puerto Rico and the mainland who invested in Puerto Rican government bonds.

“As the House considers passage of PROMESA, Members of Congress should be wary of the tactics of Puerto Rico’s government and its desire for a get-out-of-jail free card from Congress at the expense of American savers and retirees.”

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