Democrat Sanders backs 'fair' Puerto Rico debt repayment plan

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders on Monday called for creditors in Puerto Rico's debt crisis to be forced to negotiate a debt repayment plan that will not impose extreme austerity measures on the public.

Puerto Rico's leaders say bankruptcy offers the only way to manage the tiny Caribbean island's $70 billion in debt and the U.S. Supreme Court last week heard arguments about whether the U.S. territory has the right to make such a move.

Republicans who control the U.S. House of Representatives have promised to soon offer a Puerto Rico rescue plan but any concrete action on the crisis is likely many weeks away."Rather than restructuring that debt in a way that protects the people of Puerto Rico, a small group of hedge fund billionaires are demanding extreme austerity policies that would decimate public services, including the firing of teachers and the closing of schools," Sanders said in a statement.

"It is unacceptable that these Wall Street investors will reap huge profits off the suffering and misery of the Puerto Rican people," he said.

(Reporting by Doina Chiacu; Editing by Bernadette Baum)

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