McConnell: Senate taking up House Puerto Rico bill

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said on Tuesday that the Senate will take up a House-passed Puerto Rico debt-relief bill this month.

{mosads}”We’ll be taking up the house bill sometime before the end of the month,” the Republican leader told reporters.

McConnell made the statement after House lawmakers, including Rep. Rob Bishop (R-Utah), briefed Senate Republicans on the House-passed bill.

Bishop said GOP senators seemed “up to speed” on the House bill.

“The questions showed that they had been thinking about it, so yeah, I think we can move forward pretty quickly,” he told reporters.

The territory’s government has already missed payments for hundreds of millions of dollars on its debt as it struggles with years of economic decline and an exodus of Puerto Ricans to the U.S. mainland.

Taking up debt legislation this month could get legislation to President Obama’s desk ahead of the July 1 deadline for a $2 billion payment.

Bishop said GOP senators asked whether any taxpayer funds are included in the House’s Puerto Rico bill, but he didn’t characterize it as a “bailout.”

“We made very clear this was not a bailout. If you don’t do anything, you’re going to have a bailout,” he told reporters.

The House legislation has drawn Democratic criticism for not expanding Medicaid or the earned income tax credit to Puerto Rico, and for including a provision that allows Puerto Rico to avoid paying the federal minimum wage to some workers.

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) has urged Democrats to oppose the House proposal, and he is offering an alternative measure.

Senators have been largely tight-lipped about whether they support the House bill and what changes they might want, saying they are still reviewing the legislation.