(Reuters) - Members of the board in charge of resolving Puerto Rico's
debt crisis met this week with Trump administration officials and members of
the U.S. Congress to ask for more financial assistance for the hurricane-struck
island, the panel said on Saturday.
Puerto Rico, a U.S. territory that filed for the biggest-ever U.S.
local government bankruptcy in May, was devastated when Hurricane Maria struck
the Caribbean island 11 days ago, wiping out power, water and communications
systems.
The Financial Oversight and Management Board, named in August to
resolve the island's debt and economic crisis, said in a statement that Puerto
Rico needs money to address the immediate humanitarian crisis as well as
rebuild its destroyed infrastructure.
In the meetings this week in Washington, board members asked for caps
on individual aid programs to be lifted and local government cost-sharing
requirements to be waived.
"Puerto Rico has been devastated by Hurricane Maria," Jose
Carrion, the board's chairman, said in a statement. "In every meeting we
had this week we were asked what more can be done."
The board, consisting of four Republican and three Democratic members,
added that it was postponing any discussion of furloughs and withdrawing a
related lawsuit.
The panel sued Governor Ricardo Rossello in August, saying he had no
authority to reject employee furloughs and pension cuts.
In the meetings, the board said it also requested that several federal
agencies assign employees "to the board for the next several months to
support Puerto Rico's recovery efforts."
(Reporting by Megan Davies in New York; Editing by Will Dunham)
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