Armed with millions in taxpayer cash from an island drowning in debt, former Obama crony Anita Dunn (of Mao Tse-tung is my favorite philosopher fame) was paid $3.4 million to help get Puerto Rico a bailout through bankruptcy.  She was joined by Obama’s former Chief Restructuring Officer at the Treasury Department Jim Millstein who represented bondholders looking to get a special deal from the Congress. It appears their efforts have been stopped dead in their tracks.  

New legislation unveiled this morning by House Financial Services Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations Chairman Sean Duffy (R-WI) and Representatives Rob Bishop (R-UT) and Jim Sensenbrenner (R-WI) rejects the bailout scheme and establishes the financial control board to get Puerto Rico’s out of control welfare state funding in order.  

Kudos is in order for doing the right thing.

The White House, Treasury Department joined hands with army of lobbyists have been working Capitol Hill seeking to allow the island to just walk away from its $73 billion in debt.  That will not happen if the Duffy/Bishop/Sensenbrenner bill becomes law.

The new bill will:

— Create an Oversight Board with the authority to balance budgets and reform government if the islands politicians refuse to do so.

— The Control Board will have the power to seek audited financial states from the territory  and issue subpoenas if necessary.

— The Board will have the authority to prevent execution of legislative acts, regulation, rules and contracts that undercut economic growth.

— The bill prevents the Department of Labor’s new overtime rules to apply to the island.

— The bill reduces the minimum wage on the island.

This is just a few of the free market reforms demanded by the legislation.

This is a good bill.  Failure to enact it will create momentum for a bankruptcy bailout.  The House and Senate should pass the bill and then pat themselves on the back.