Republicans Balk at Tossing Puerto Rico a Lifeline

Debt-ridden Puerto Rico got a bit of good news on Tuesday when the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority and its nervous creditors reportedly moved towards a deal that would permit the utility to pay bondholders more than $400 million as a down payment on its debt. As The Wall Street Journal reported, analysts feared that a default by the utility would have foreshadowed defaults by other public institutions within the commonwealth, which is saddled with about $72 billion of outstanding debt. Unli