After months of fielding criticism for standing idly by while Puerto Rico sank under a $72 billion heap of debt, the Obama administration is getting creative. On October 21, the US Treasury, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), and the National Economic Council (NEC) released a joint proposal for federal bankruptcy legislation [pdf] to restructure all of Puerto Rico’s debts. Debt relief would come in exchange for fairly intrusive federal oversight, combined with Medicaid reform and federal tax relief to help mend the island’s fraying social safety net.