Puerto Rico's Humanitarian Crisis Deepens as Congress Debates Legislation

Congress delayed legislation to resolve disagreements on its key provisions, including debt restructuring tools for Puerto Rico.

"Congressional action must include strong, comprehensive and orderly restructuring tools to bring the debt back to payable levels," said Eric LeCompte, a debt expert and executive director of Jubilee USA, a religious development coalition. "Legislation must also set clear targets to reduce child poverty. American children are suffering on the island."

According to a new report from the Institute for Youth Development, 57 percent of youth under 18 in Puerto Rico live below the poverty line. Nearly 41 percent of households with youth under 18 receive food stamps.

"We knew things were bad already for kids living in Puerto Rico, but new data suggests it's even worse than we thought," shared LeCompte who wrote a letter to Congress‎ urging that proposed Puerto Rico legislation makes reducing child poverty a priority.

According to Pew Research Center, in 2014 84,000 people left the island for the U.S. mainland. This represents a 38 percent increase from 2010. As of 2013, there are more Puerto Ricans living on the US mainland than on the island itself.

"The hardest thing to buy in Puerto Rico is a suitcase," stated LeCompte. "Puerto Ricans are American citizens and are fleeing to the mainland United States in search of work in increasing numbers."

Jubilee USA Network is an alliance of more than 75 US organizations and 550 faith communities working with 50 Jubilee global partners. Jubilee USA builds an economy that serves, protects and promotes the participation of the most vulnerable. Jubilee USA has won critical global financial reforms and more than $130 billion in debt relief to benefit the world's poorest people. http://www.jubileeusa.org