 "Hope for debt-heavy companies")
House Republicans have missed a self-imposed deadline for a plan to help Puerto Rico manage $70 billion in debt.
Legislation was expected this week to create a control board to help manage the US territory's financial obligations and oversee some debt restructuring. It would have been the third version of the House bill, which has come under fire from conservatives who feared it would set a precedent for financially ailing states and Democrats concerned the control board would be too powerful and favourable to creditors.
House Speaker Paul Ryan said in a statement on Friday that Republicans want to ensure the bill is the "best, most responsible legislation to tackle Puerto Rico's fiscal crisis while protecting American taxpayers".
Ryan said negotiations continue with Democrats and the Obama administration on the issue. He said it will be introduced in "the coming days".
House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Rob Bishop, R-Utah, has led negotiations on the bill and has said he wants bipartisan support. The aim is to write legislation that could pass both the House and the Senate before Puerto Rico defaults on a $2 billion debt payment due July 1.
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The territory missed a nearly $370 million bond payment on May 1, the largest so far in a series of missed payments since last year.
In an interview on Friday, for C-SPAN's "Newsmakers" program, Bishop said that he believes the House needs to move forward but lawmakers want to make sure the legislation doesn't have any remaining constitutional or legal issues.
"We have one shot at getting this right," Bishop said. "Once this bill starts moving I think it moves through Congress very quickly," he added.
Bishop said that the final version yet to be released will be similar to previous versions, including the control board setup.
"That basic concept of what we want to do has been agreed to by everybody that's a player, and so I think regardless of what the final version is, that structure will be there," Bishop said on C-SPAN.
He said that the bill will not set a precedent for ailing states, as some have feared. He said that the legislation is designed to apply only to Puerto Rico.
Puerto Rico has been mired in economic stagnation for a decade. Financial problems grew worse as a result of setbacks in the wider US economy, and government spending in Puerto Rico continued unchecked.
