The congressional equivalent of hell is the Rules Committee
The congressional equivalent of hell is the Rules Committee. The majority party controls each debate and what will be a part of it through this committee, and it was there that I spent a couple of hours last night waiting for the chance to testify on an amendment I wanted to offer on the Puerto Rico bill. This amendment was based on a bill I introduced in February called the Puerto Rico Minimum Wage Improvement Act, and like my bill, the amendment would allow the territory to opt out of federal minimum wage requirements. My amendment was ruled out of order not because it was not germane to the underlying bill but because leadership did not want to debate this issue.
Yet, it is the more controversial issues tied to the competitiveness of Puerto Rico and the bill’s hypothetical impact on the municipal bond market that most need to be debated. In this vein, an amendment offered byCongressman Gary Palmer on the Jones Act, that dramatically raises shipping costs to and from the island, was also rejected.
I believe to really address the island’s debt we have to address the competitiveness of the island.
And so what I proposed was to offer the same flexibility that we have offered to other US territories like the Northern Mariana Islands or American Samoa.
If you’re interested in learning more, take a look at some of my comments from last night.