Puerto Rico - Obama Presidency Oral History Back Puerto Rico Index / Locations Transcripts Jacob Lew ...to things. I mean, my time at Treasury, Puerto Rico was something that Congress was no... ...first, I wanted to ask just a bit about Puerto Rico . In October of 2015, th... ...a form of bankruptcy protection to Puerto Rico , not available widely to the othe... ...other states. And I know you visited Puerto Rico in January of 2016. Did that visi... ...had no authority to do anything in Puerto Rico , but if Puerto Rico collapsed, we kne... ...to do anything in Puerto Rico, but if Puerto Rico collapsed, we knew it was going to b... ...it had no authority to do anything for Puerto Rico , other than help figure out a solutio... ...I took this very seriously. I had a Puerto Rico task force in Treasury. I worked wit... ...Without going into the detail, Puerto Rico had a history of financial problem... ...tax policy changed and businesses left Puerto Rico . Puerto Rico had been like an offshor... ...and businesses left Puerto Rico. Puerto Rico had been like an offshore haven becaus... ...tax haven had the bad effect of hurting Puerto Rico 's economy. Puerto Rico had borrowe... ...of hurting Puerto Rico's economy. Puerto Rico had borrowed way more than it coul... ...forward. And Treasury did not have a Puerto Rico expertise. It did not have a bankruptc... ...way. The reason for the trip to Puerto Rico , candidly, was more to put a spotligh... ...had more traveling press on the trip to Puerto Rico than I ever had on my overseas trips... Show more... Related Topics go to the Democrats Democrats go to the Nuclear Nonproliferation Nuclear Nonproliferation go to the Hawaii Hawaii go to the Western Hemisphere Western Hemisphere go to the Sub-Saharan Africa Sub-Saharan Africa