Eric LeCompte, Executive Director of Jubilee USA was recently featured in The Bond Buyer speaking on the loan delay for Puerto Rico disaster relief. Read excerpt below and follow link to full article.

U.S. Treasury Secretary says Puerto Rico Loan Delay is Island Government’s Fault

By: Robert Slavin

Eric LeCompte, executive director of Jubilee USA -- a non-profit devoted to the forgiveness of debt on humanitarian grounds -- said the priority should be to get money for rebuilding distributed as fast as possible.

"Almost six months after Hurricane Maria, we are still dealing with real human and economic suffering," he said. "It seems everyone is trying to work together to get the first installment of financing sent and it needs to be urgently sent."

LeCompte continued: “More long-term, everyone who cares about Puerto Rico also cares about greater public budget transparency on the island. Fortunately there are paths moving forward. We do have some processes that are improving transparency like the ongoing bankruptcy process and Treasury's Office of Technical Assistance on the ground."

Read more here.

This week a series of legislation was introduced in the House and Senate that takes aim at corporate tax avoidance and foreign corruption. The bipartisan Kleptocracy Asset Recovery Act (HR 5101), introduced by Representatives Stephen Lynch (D-MA) and Keith Rothfus (R-PA), encourages "whistleblowers" to disclose knowledge of foreign corruption facilitated in the US financial system. Representative Lloyd Doggett (D-TX) and Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) introduced the No Tax Breaks for Outsourcing Act as companion Senate and House legislation to reduce corporate tax avoidance.

Eric LeCompte, Executive Director of Jubilee USA recently talked with The Intercept speaking on the Puerto Rico debt crisis. Read excerpt below and follow link to full article.

Citigroup Drove Puerto Rico Into Debt. Now It Will Profit From Privatization on the Island.

By: Kate Aronoff

“Our concern with how debt restructurings often happen is that consultants too often turn to traditional prescriptions that haven’t necessarily worked. We believe fundamentally that austerity hurts economies when they’re trying to get back to economic growth.”

Read more here.

Eric LeCompte, Executive Director of Jubilee USA was recently featured in America, the Jesuit Review speaking on Puerto Rico. Read excerpt below and follow link to full article.

Puerto Rico to receive $11 billion in disaster aid. Advocates warn it won't be enough.

By: J.D. Long-García

Eric LeCompte, executive director of Jubilee USA Network has serious doubts. “Half a million people in Puerto Rico are still without power,” he said.

“There’s a lot of hopelessness across the island,” Mr. LeCompte said, adding that hundreds of thousands have left Puerto Rico since the hurricane. According to Mr. LeCompte, there has been a surge in suicide rates. While Mr. LeCompte applauded the approval of disaster relief, he added that “the work of Congress is not over yet.”

Even before the hurricane, half of the children in Puerto Rico lived in poverty, according to Mr. LeCompte.

“The suffering was already great on the island with hundreds of schools closed,” he said. “Austerity was impacting health care and social services. Because of the debt crisis, Puerto Rico was ill-prepared to deal with hurricanes.”

Mr. LeCompte noted that many Americans still do not realize Puerto Ricans are U.S. citizens. Still, he expects the financial oversight board of Puerto Rico to recommend a five-year suspension of debt payments in the coming weeks.

“There is also a ‘super bankruptcy’ process taking place that Congress passed as a part of legislation,” Mr. LeCompte said. “That bankruptcy process will need to cut about 80 to 90 percent of the debt if Puerto Rico wants to see future economic growth.”

The island’s government estimates Puerto Rico needs $90 billion in aid in the aftermath of the hurricanes, Mr. LeCompte said. The U.S. Virgin Islands have requested more than $7.5 billion.

“We will need more disaster aid bills from Congress in the coming months,” he said. The current budget proposal also falls short of requests from California, Texas and Florida, according to Mr. LeCompte.

Read more here. 

Friends,

Thanks to your efforts, as dawn broke in Washington, we won relief and recovery funds for Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands. 

For 6 months, you generated thousands of e-mails, phone calls and petitions to Congress and the White House. You met with your Members of Congress and organized 130 prayers services across the country for Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands. 

You asked Congress and the White House and they listened.

The new law includes $11 billion in recovery aid for Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands. There is over $2 billion to rebuild Puerto Rico's power grid. There are rules in place to ensure that Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands can rebuild to withstand future storms. In addition, you campaigned for two years continually for Medicaid funding to protect Puerto Rico's poor and help Puerto Rico respond to its debt crisis. Your efforts secured nearly $5 billion in funds. The program was within weeks of running out of money and now has funding for years.

We are grateful that Congress and the White House worked with us to move forward relief. We also need to ask Congress to do more. 

Please join us as we thank Congress for moving forward relief for Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands. Join us as we invite Congress to do even more. Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands will need more recovery aid to fully rebuild. The US citizens on the islands still need to be able to access the same levels of healthcare and child tax benefits that US citizens can access in the States. Continuing to win these policies is essential to ending the debt crisis that continue in the post-hurricane world on the islands.

In the summer of 2015, Puerto Rico's religious leaders alerted the world to a financial crisis devastating their islands and harming the poor. In the years that followed Puerto Rico's Archbishop Roberto Gonzalez and Bible Society Head Reverend Heriberto Martinez continued to call for debt relief and for Congress to enact a fix to Medicaid for the poor on their island.

We, along with our national religious founders and partners, joined them in their calls. Our work together is not finished.

Together working with two different White Houses and Republican and Democratic leadership, we've achieved a lot. Together, we will do even more. Please join us as we thank Congress for acting and inviting them to do more.

Puerto Rico was ill-prepared before the hurricanes hit because of the island's debt crisis and austerity policies. Before the hurricanes nearly one in two kids lived in poverty. In a post-hurricane world, hundreds of thousands do not have electricity and suicide rates continue to soar. In the coming weeks, our efforts together, will be essential to ending the debt crisis and building a path forward that reduces child poverty and promotes economic growth. 

Thanks for your efforts to make today's incredible success possible.

Eric LeCompte
Executive Director

Twitter: @Eric_LeCompte
www.jubileeusa.org/support-us

    

Friends,

Gratefully,

Lydia C. Andrews
Deputy Director

Twitter: @JubileeUSA
www.jubileeusa.org/support-us

Eric LeCompte, Executive Director of Jubilee USA was recently featured in El Nuevo Dia speaking on disaster relief for Puerto Rico. Read excerpt below and follow link to full article.

Buscan Incluir una Resolución para Mitigar Desastres en el Presupuesto

By: José A. Delgado

“El Senado debe llevar a votación la asistencia para desastres y reconstrucción para Puerto Rico y las Islas Vírgenes estadounidenses… Es increíble que el Senado haya tardado tanto en actuar”, indicó el director ejecutivo de la coalición religiosa Jubilee USA, Eric LeCompte.

Read more here.

Friends,

In the President’s State of the Union address, he told disaster victims from Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands “we are with you, we love you and we will pull through this together.”

Unfortunately Disaster victims from California to Puerto Rico are still waiting for Congress to authorize relief and rebuilding funds. 

The Senate still has not voted on the recovery package for disaster victims. Their next deadline to act is February 9th to avert a government shutdown. Send a message to Congress: the people of Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands need relief. 

More than four months has passed since Hurricane Maria landed in Puerto Rico, devastating the island. Much of the island is still without power, hospitals lack supplies and personnel to adequately care for the sick. Murders and suicides are at record levels.

The effects of the storm are heartbreaking in the US Virgin Islands, where power is still not completely restored and many homes and buildings are still without roofs. These islands will not be able to withstand the next storm if they do not receive the help and aid that many in Washington promised. Hold Congress and the White House to their word by calling on them now to act and provide the relief the islands need. 

Your voice matters. Now is the time to act. Congress must pass another spending bill before February 9th to keep the government open. Send a message to Congress for hurricane victims in Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands.

We know that the pressure we’ve been putting on Congress is having an effect, but we need your help. Please act now and share this message with your friends and family.

Gratefully,

Kate Zeller
Campaigns Director

Twitter: @JubileeUSA
www.jubileeusa.org/support-us