The House Committee on Natural Resources has announced an oversight hearing on Wednesday, July 16 to examine “Puerto Rico’s Fiscal Recovery Under PROMESA and the Road Ahead.”
The hearing may be viewed live here starting at 10 am.
The names of witnesses who will be testifying and additional information will be available to the public here as those details become available.
Why the Committee on Natural Resources?
The House Natural Resources Committee oversees all of the U.S. territories, including Puerto Rico. The committee’s Indian and Insular Affairs subcommittee will be hosting the hearing. “Insular” means “having to do with islands.”
The U.S. territories – also called U.S. possessions – have been under the jurisdiction of the Natural Resources Committee throughout their relationships with the U.S. Historically, the island territories were very important because they provided the United States with guano for fertilizer, rubber, and other tropical resources. With the advent of petroleum, plastics, and other chemical innovations, these natural resources became less significant, but the U.S. territories still remain under the purview of the Natural Resources Committee.
Observers sometimes mistake the House Foreign Affairs Committee as having oversight over the territories, but U.S. territories are not foreign countries.
Why the focus on PROMESA?
The Financial Oversight and Management Board (FOMB) was established under the Puerto Rico Oversight, Management, and Economic Stability Act (PROMESA) of 2016. One requirement of the law is that Puerto Rico must have a balanced budget four years in a row before the FOMB can be disbanded. Public opinion in Puerto Rico is not in favor of the FOMB. A disbanding of the FOMB would be a welcome development.
On June 25, Governor Jenniffer Gonzalez-Colon signed into law the first balanced budget certified by the FOMB since the board began its oversight duties almost a decade ago. The certified budget will govern public spending from July 1, 2025, through June 30, 2026. This recent development may be a catalyst for the hearing.
Members of the FOMB have said that they will be at the hearing in their official capacity.
Who else is involved?
Resident Commissioner Pablo José Hernandez (PR-D) has announced his intention to attend the hearing, too. “The hearing offers a necessary opportunity to audit the Board. Nine years after the approval of PROMESA, the people of Puerto Rico deserve to know why they have not stopped their work and why they insist on measures that increase the cost of living,” he was quoted as saying on Instagram.
