Trump opposes Puerto Rico aid

Donald Trump would not support the government assisting Puerto Rico during its debt crisis. 

“I don’t believe they should do it, and Puerto Rico is better off if they don’t because they will cut the bonds, they’ll cut them way down,” Trump said Wednesday during an interview with CNN about a plan to help the territory deal with its finances. 

{mosads}He told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer “I love debt” and referred to himself as the “king of debt” as he explained that he’s always used bankruptcy laws to his benefit in his business dealings. 

But Puerto Rico is not allowed to declare bankruptcy under U.S. law because of its status as a territory, complicating the issue. 

When Blitzer pointed that out, Trump ultimately said that the territory would have “no choice” but to eventually declare bankruptcy.

But granting Puerto Rico the power to restructure its debt is at the center of the legislation in question.

“If they don’t have money, can’t pay the interest whether they officially declare or not, but ultimately what they’re going to do is cut the debt way down. They’re never going to pay that debt off; they have to cut it way down, and the United States is going to be in that position real soon,” said Trump.

Puerto Rico’s struggles hit a new stage of urgency on Monday, when it defaulted on roughly $422 million in debt payments.

A congressional committee is considering legislation that would grant debt restructuring and establish a federal review board, but Puerto Rican officials are wary that giving too much power to such a body — which is part of legislation drafted by House Natural Resources Chairman Rob Bishop (R-Utah) — would steal from the territory’s autonomy.

Meanwhile, some conservatives are concerned about allowing Puerto Rico to rework the terms of its contracts with creditors amid some strong pushback from some investors in Puerto Rican debt.

Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) has emphasized that the Puerto Rico bill will be a bipartisan one, and he’s said he is aiming for majorities in both parties to support it.

But he and other GOP leaders have struggled for months to persuade rank-and-file Republicans that Congress has a constitutional duty to oversee U.S. territories and that a failure to act now will lead to much bigger, and much more expensive, problems down the road.

Updated at 6:36 p.m.