 Es un placer estar con ustedes, disculpenme, pero mi español no es muy bueno, y estoy hablando con ustedes el día de hoy en inglés. Let me begin by telling you that I am more than aware that there is a humanitarian crisis in Puerto Rico today and that the U.S. Congress and the administration must address this crisis as soon as possible. The people of Puerto Rico are experiencing enormous economic pain as a result of a depression that has now lasted more than a decade. Since 2006, Puerto Rico has lost 20% of its jobs. About 60% of Puerto Rico's adult population are either unemployed or have given up looking for work. Over the last five years alone, more than 150 public schools have been shut down and the childhood poverty rate has gone up to 57%. At a time when the rich get richer, Puerto Rico now has more income inequality than any state in the United States. In the midst of this massive human crisis, it is morally unacceptable that billionaire hedge fund managers have been calling for even more austerity in Puerto Rico. Austerity will not solve this crisis. As we all know from throughout the world, austerity will cause more suffering for working people and make the richer we must vigorously oppose all efforts at austerity. It is unacceptable to me that vulture funds on Wall Street are demanding that Puerto Rico fire teachers, close schools, cut pensions, and abolish the minimum wage so that they can reap huge profits off the suffering and the misery of the children and the people of Puerto Rico. We cannot allow that to happen. We will not allow that to happen. I think all of us understand and your government understands that Puerto Rico's $70 billion debt is unsustainable and it is unpayable. And the reason that it is unsustainable has everything to do with the greed of Wall Street vulture funds. And I just want to say having dealt with Wall Street for many, many years, their greed, their recklessness, their illegal behavior has caused enormous problems all over the United States and Puerto Rico, all over this world. Which is why, among other things, I am fighting to break up the large banks on Wall Street. The United States, Puerto Rico, the world needs a financial system which is designed to increase jobs, to grow the economy, not to live as an island unto itself, only concerned about their own profits. These vulture funds are getting interest rates of 34% on tax-exempt bonds that they purchased for $0.29 on the dollar. That is obscene. It has been estimated that as much as half of Puerto Rico's debt is now owned by these vulture funds. We have got to make it clear to these billionaire hedge fund managers that they cannot have it all. Children in Puerto Rico will not go hungry, will not lose education, will not lose health care to make billionaires even wealthier. And what must be made abundantly clear is that these hedge funds must take a massive haircut. They are not going to get it all. The people in Puerto Rico should not be forced to suffer even more so that a handful of wealthy investors who have done so much damage all over this world can make even more money. El futuro de Puerto Rico no debe ser sequestrado injustamente por fondos buetas abusivos. And please forgive my pronunciation. Puerto Rico's debt must be restructured. Puerto Rico must be given the time it needs to grow its economy, to create jobs, to reduce the poverty rate, and expand its tax base so that it could pay back its debt in a way that is fair and is just. The economic situation in Puerto Rico will not improve by eliminating more public schools, by slashing pensions, by laying off workers and allowing corporations to pay workers starvation wages by abolishing the minimum wage and relaxing labor law. Goldman Sachs, Citigroup and UBS racked up hundreds of millions of dollars in fees to manage Puerto Rico's bond sales. These Wall Street banks have profited off of the suffering of the people in this island, and together we will end that process. And by the way, as I'm sure many of you know, just last month, Goldman Sachs paid a $5 billion settlement to the United States government because they were selling worthless packages of subprime mortgage loans which helped precipitate the major financial crisis. And I think all of us have got to recognize, as the people of the United States increasingly do, that the business model of Wall Street is fraud. Eight years ago, Congress and the Federal Reserve acted with a fierce sense of urgency to bail out Wall Street, I didn't vote for that, and the largest financial institutions in this country that were considered too big to fail. The Treasury Department provided $700 billion that went to every major financial institution in America. The Federal Reserve provided over $16 trillion in virtually zero interest loans, not only to every financial institution in the United States, but to foreign banks and corporations throughout the world. Do you all remember that? $16 trillion of virtually zero interest loans, the central banks all over the world. If the Federal Reserve could bail out Wall Street, it can help the 3.5 million American citizens of Puerto Rico. Today, I am calling on the Fed to use its emergency authority under Section 133 of the Federal Reserve Act to pave the way for an orderly restructuring of Puerto Rico's public debt. On the current law, the Federal Reserve has the authority, quote, in unusual and exigent circumstances to lend to individuals, partnerships and corporations outside the banking system that are, quote, unable to secure adequate credit accommodations from other banking institutions. Washington rescued Goldman Sachs and Wall Street from its bank. The Puerto Rico people are more important than them. We must act now. Moreover, in my view, we need an independent audit of Puerto Rico's debt. If this audit determines and concludes that any of Puerto Rico's debt was incurred in violation of its constitution, it must be immediately set aside. I believe that Congress should act immediately to give Puerto Rico the same authority granted to every municipality in this country to restructure its debt under the supervision of a bankruptcy court. Unfortunately, the Republicans in Congress continue to oppose this. The people of Puerto Rico cannot wait any longer. It is time for the Federal Reserve to act. And let me also be as clear as I can be the Republican plan in Congress to establish an unelected oversight board that would be given the power to slash pensions, cut education and health care, and increase taxes on working families is not the answer. In fact, this would be not only a major anti-democratic effort, but it would move this island in exactly the wrong direction and it must be rejected. Now, let me tell you what I think we should be doing. We need a major jobs program in Puerto Rico by rebuilding the infrastructure here and aggressively moving toward a clean energy economy. And let me be very clear is that it is not only the infrastructure of Puerto Rico which is in trouble in virtually every state in the United States infrastructure is collapsing as well. We need to rebuild our infrastructure and when we do that, we create millions of good-paying jobs. Last year, I introduced the Rebuild America Act that would create over 150,000 good-paying jobs in Puerto Rico and put 13 million Americans to work in the United States. This legislation would help address Puerto Rico's crumbling roads and bridges, improve its ports, upgrade its drinking water and wastewater plants, and fortify flood control projects. It would improve public transportation within cities like San Juan, Bayamon and Carolina and other major cities and towns. It would modernize Puerto Rico's antiquated electric grid to end rolling blackouts and make it easier to integrate new solar and wind installations. And very importantly, it would expand high-speed internet and affordable broadband services throughout the island. And as best as I can understand, when we talk about the need to combat climate change and in my view, climate change is a global crisis that has got to be dealt with throughout this world. When we look at that crisis, it makes no sense to me that 99% of Puerto Rico's energy comes from fossil fuels. Puerto Rico is blessed with abundant solar and wind resources and has great potential to expand biomass and geothermal energy. We must give Puerto Rico the tools it needs to aggressively move towards a clean energy economy instead of being dependent on importing dirty fossil fuel that is bad for the environment, bad for the Puerto Rican economy, and bad for the planet. In my view, it is time for the people of Puerto Rico to be allowed to take charge of their political future and for the United States of America to redefine its legal relationship with the people of this island. The people of Puerto Rico should not and cannot provide colonial-like treatment of its citizens. The people of the United States cannot continue a colonial-type relationship with the people of Puerto Rico. It is unacceptable to me for the United States government to treat Puerto Rico like a colony during a time when its people are facing the worst fiscal and economic crisis in its history. In my view, the people of Puerto Rico must be empowered to determine their own destiny. I do know I am not a great expert on the history or the politics of Puerto Rico, but I do know there are differences of opinion about that future, and those differences are probably in this room right here. But during my first year in office, I will do everything I can to give the people of Puerto Rico the opportunity to vote on a binding referendum that would allow them to choose from three clearly defined options on whether or not to become our 51st state, whether or not to become an independent nation, or whether or not to reform the existing Commonwealth relationship. That is a decision that must be made by the people of Puerto Rico. I am aware that probably all of you are concerned about Oscar Lopez Rivera. Lopez Rivera is one of the longest serving political prisoners in history. He has been in prison now for more than 34 years, longer than Nelson Mandela was in prison in South Africa. He is currently incarcerated at the Federal Correctional Institution in Terre Haute, Indiana in solitary confinement. This man is 73 years old, and his health, as I understand it, is deteriorating rapidly. We are talking here about a Vietnam War veteran who was awarded a bronze star and a respected community activist. A petition asking President Obama to immediately release Oscar Rivera Lopez from prison is, as I understand it, widely supported in Puerto Rico. That petition is supported by the AFL-CIO, by Coretta Scott King, the widow of Montluther King, Jr., by President Jimmy Carter, by 10 Nobel Prize Laureates, by the United Methodist Church, the Episcopal Church of Puerto Rico, the Catholic Archbishop of San Juan, the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, and a number of political leaders and social activists in Latin America and in the Caribbean. I say to President Obama, let him out. Oscar Lopez Rivera has done his time, he must be given a chance to enjoy his remaining years in freedom. And if President Obama does not do that, as I hope he will, as President of the United States, I will pardon Oscar Lopez. I have throughout my entire life believed that healthcare is a right of all people, not just a privilege. And that means that whether you are poor, whether you're rich, whether you're old, or you are young, you should be entitled to the best quality healthcare that the system can provide. All of you know the healthcare system today in Puerto Rico is in very, very dire straits. And if we do not act soon, the well-being of three and a half million American citizens will be put at severe risk. According to an August 2, 2015 article in The New York Times, Puerto Rico's financial crisis stems in large part from a vast disparity in federal funding for healthcare on the island compared with the 50 states. This disparity is partly responsible for 25 billion of Puerto Rico's $73 billion debt as its government was forced to borrow over time to keep the Medicaid program afloat, end of quote. That arrangement is unfair and unacceptable. Today, the people of Puerto Rico pay the same Medicare and Social Security taxes as do the people in the 50 states, but they only get about half the rate of federal healthcare dollars. While that is beginning to change, it is still not good enough. The federal government should not be discriminating against the people of Puerto Rico by providing much lower Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement rates. The people of Puerto Rico are American citizens. They deserve nothing less than equal reimbursement rates. But let me add that it is also important to understand that the crisis in Puerto Rico's health system is not only about equal treatment in the distribution of federal funds, but also about the current model that ensures that private insurance companies make hundreds of millions in profits even during a time when millions of Puerto Ricans are suffering unprecedented pain. In my view, we, all of us, need to join every other major country on earth and provide high quality care to all of our people, and that certainly includes Puerto Rico. My Medicare for all plan would apply equally to states and territories. It is time to get this done. It is time for the United States to join the rest of the industrialized world. Healthcare is a right, not a privilege. What this campaign is about, and as you all know on June 5th, you will be participating in the Democratic primary here. What this campaign is about is an understanding that we cannot bring the kinds of changes that we need in the 50 states and in Puerto Rico unless there is a political revolution. Unless millions of people begin to stand up and demand that we have a government which represents all of us and not just the 1%. I am tired of the disgrace in the United States of billionaires spending hundreds of millions of dollars to buy elections. That is not democracy. That is oligarchy. So let me just conclude by thanking all of you who are standing up, who are fighting back, who know the incredible potential that exists in this beautiful island. If elected president of the United States, you will have an ally in the Oval Office. Thank you very much.