A top U.S. Senate Republican said he will push for including aid to Puerto Rico in legislation that lawmakers are racing to approve this week, which would mark the first step by Congress to help the Caribbean island deal with an escalating debt crisis.

Sen. Orrin Hatch, Utah Republican who chairs the finance committee, told reporters in the Capitol that he plans to get a "stop-gap" measure included in the $1.1 trillion spending bill that would help Puerto Rico meet its financial obligations until February at least. That would give Congress time to reach agreement on a broader response to the territory’s fiscal strains.

“Because I can’t bring both sides together, it will probably be a stop-gap to get them through to hopefully the end of February,” Hatch said. “If we can do that, it gets us some time to resolve it.”

Puerto Rico has been pleading with lawmakers in Washington for assistance as it runs out of cash and struggles to pay its $70 billion of debt. The commonwealth this month narrowly averted a default on government-guaranteed bonds for the first time and may be unable to cover $957 million of interest due Jan. 1.