WASHINGTON, June 3 – Sen. Bernie Sanders issued the following statement in response to today’s report from the Congressional Budget Office estimating that the control board established under the Puerto Rico Oversight, Management, and Economic Stability Act would cost $370 million and that Puerto Rican taxpayers would be forced to pick up the tab:

“The more we learn about the disastrous House bill to address the crisis in Puerto Rico, the worse it becomes. It is bad enough for Republicans in Congress to take away the democratic rights of U.S. citizens living in Puerto Rico by setting up a neocolonial control board empowered with the authority to slash pensions, fire teachers and close hospitals. But to ask Puerto Rican taxpayers to pay $370 million to create an unelected control board stacked with right-wing Republicans is beyond insulting. Mexico is not going to pay for Donald Trump’s unnecessary wall and, if I have anything to say about it, the people of Puerto Rico will not pay for this outrageous control board. This is just one more reason why I will do everything I can to defeat this legislation in the Senate and fight for an alternative bill that will allow Puerto Rico to grow its economy, create good jobs, expand its tax base and pay back its debt in a way that is fair and just.”

Sanders will introduce legislation to address the humanitarian crisis in Puerto Rico next week. A summary of his bill can be found here.