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108th CONGRESS
2d Session
H. R. 4511
To provide for the cancellation of debts owed to the International
Monetary Fund by poor countries, and for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
June 3, 2004
Ms. Waters (for herself, Mr. Leach, Mr. Frank of Massachusetts, Mr.
Bachus, and Ms. Lee) introduced the following bill; which was referred
to the Committee on Financial Services
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To provide for the cancellation of debts owed to the International
Monetary Fund by poor countries, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Justice and Understanding By IMF
Loan Elimination and Equity Act of 2004'' or the ``JUBILEE Act of
2004''.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
The Congress finds the following:
(1) Many poor countries have been struggling under the
burden of international debts for many years.
(2) Many poor countries have debts that are odious because
they were incurred by dictatorships that did not use the funds
in ways that benefitted the population of the country.
(3) The international Jubilee coalitions have been working
to raise awareness of the needs of these impoverished countries
for full debt cancellation.
(4) The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has imposed
onerous structural adjustment requirements on many poor
countries as a condition of past loans and of participation in
debt relief programs.
(5) Justice requires that debts owed by these countries to
the IMF be cancelled.
SEC. 3. CANCELLATION OF DEBT OWED TO THE IMF BY ELIGIBLE POOR
COUNTRIES.
Title XVI of the International Financial Institutions Act (22
U.S.C. 262p-262p-8) is amended by adding at the end the following:
``SEC. 1626. CANCELLATION OF DEBT OWED TO THE IMF BY ELIGIBLE POOR
COUNTRIES.
``(a) In General.--
``(1) Cancellation of debt.--In order to achieve
multilateral debt cancellation and promote human and economic
development and poverty alleviation in eligible poor countries,
the Secretary of the Treasury shall commence immediate efforts,
within the Paris Club of Official Creditors, the International
Monetary Fund (IMF), and other appropriate multilateral
development institutions, to accomplish the following:
``(A) The IMF shall cancel all debts owed to the
IMF by eligible poor countries, and finance the debt
cancellation from ongoing operations, procedures, and
accounts of the IMF established as of the end of the
most recent fiscal year, including the Poverty
Reduction and Growth Facility (formerly known as the
`Enhanced Structural Adjustment Facility' or `ESAF').
``(B) Any waiting period before receiving debt
cancellation shall not exceed 1 month from the date of
an eligible poor country's application for debt
cancellation.
``(C) The government of each eligible poor country
shall be encouraged to allocate at least 20 percent of
its national budget, including the savings from the
cancellation of debt owed by the country to the IMF,
for the provision of basic health care services,
education services, and clean water services to
individuals in the country. In providing such services,
the government should seek input from a broad cross-
section of members of civil society.
``(2) Prohibition of privilege for imf credit.--In order to
ensure that the interests of the United States are fully
protected and that the IMF does not have undue influence over
the policies and finances of poor countries, the Secretary of
the Treasury shall commence immediate efforts, within the Paris
Club of Official Creditors, the IMF, and other appropriate
multilateral development institutions, to ensure that the IMF
does not require any country receiving new concessional loans
to privilege the IMF as a creditor over the United States.
``(3) Establishment of framework for creditor
transparency.--In order to ensure that creditor activity is
known and assessed by all stakeholders, the Secretary of the
Treasury shall commence immediate efforts, within the Paris
Club of Official Creditors, the International Monetary Fund
(IMF), and other appropriate multilateral development
institutions, to ensure that each international financial
institution (as defined in section 1701(c)(2))--
``(A) continues to make efforts to promote greater
transparency regarding the activities of the
institution, including project design, project
monitoring and evaluation, project implementation,
resource allocation, and decisionmaking; and
``(B) supports continued efforts to allow informed
participation and input by affected communities,
including translation of information on proposed
projects, provision of information through information
technology application, oral briefings, and outreach to
and dialogue with community organizations and
institutions in affected areas.
``(4) Availability on treasury department website of
remarks of united states executive directors at meetings of
international financial institutions boards of directors.--The
Secretary of the Treasury shall make available on the website
of the Department of the Treasury the full record of the
remarks of the United States Executive Director at meetings of
the Board of Directors of each international financial
institution and the International Monetary Fund, about
cancellation or reduction of debts owed to the institution
involved, with redaction by the Secretary of the Treasury of
material deemed too sensitive for public distribution, but
showing the topic, amount of material redacted, and reason for
the redaction.
``(5) Report from the comptroller general.--Within 90 days
after the date of the enactment of this section, the
Comptroller General of the United States shall prepare and
submit to the Committee on Banking and Financial Services of
the House of Representatives and the Committee on Banking,
Housing, and Urban Affairs of the Senate a report on the
availability of the ongoing operations, procedures, and
accounts of the IMF for canceling the debt of eligible poor
countries.
``(6) Annual reports from the president.--Not later than
December 31 of each year, the President shall submit to the
Committees on Banking and Financial Services, and on
International Relations of the House of Representatives and the
Committees on Foreign Relations and on Banking, Housing, and
Urban Affairs of the Senate a report, which shall be made
available to the public, on the activities undertaken under
this section, and other progress made in accomplishing the
purposes of this section, for the prior fiscal year. The report
shall include a list of the countries that have received debt
cancellation, a list of the countries whose request for such
debt cancellation has been denied and the reasons therefor, and
a list of the countries whose requests for such debt
cancellation are under consideration.
``(b) Promotion of Equitable Burden Sharing.--In order to promote
equitable burden sharing by bilateral, multilateral, and private
creditors, the Secretary of the Treasury shall commence immediate
efforts to ensure that such creditors draw upon their own resources to
finance debt reduction to the extent possible without diverting funds
from other high-priority poverty alleviation programs.
``(c) Eligible Poor Country Defined.--In this section, the term
`eligible poor country' means Angola, Bangladesh, Benin, Bolivia,
Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cambodia, Cameroon, Central African
Republic, Chad, Cote d'Ivoire, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia,
Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica,
Kenya, Lao PDR, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Morocco,
Mozambique, Namibia, Nepal, Nicaragua, Niger, Nigeria, Peru,
Philippines, Republic of Congo, Rwanda, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal,
Sierra Leone, South Africa, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Vietnam, Yemen, and
Zambia, but not if--
``(1) the government of the country has an excessive level
of military expenditures;
``(2) the government of the country has repeatedly provided
support for acts of international terrorism, as determined by
the Secretary of State under section 6(j)(1) of the Export
Administration Act of 1979 (50 U.S.C. App. 2405(j)(1)), or
section 620A(a) of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 (22
U.S.C. 2371(a));
``(3) the government of the country is failing to cooperate
on international narcotics control matters;
``(4) the government of the country (including its military
or other security forces) engages in a consistent pattern of
gross violations of internationally recognized human rights; or
``(5) in the case of Haiti, the government of the country
has not been elected through free and fair elections.''.
SEC. 4. PROHIBITION OF STRUCTURAL ADJUSTMENT PROGRAMS.
Title XVI of the International Financial Institutions Act (22
U.S.C. 262p-262p-8) is further amended by adding at the end the
following:
``SEC. 1627. PROHIBITION OF STRUCTURAL ADJUSTMENT PROGRAMS.
``(a) Prohibition of Structural Adjustment Conditions.--In order to
promote human and economic development and poverty alleviation in
eligible poor countries (as defined in section 1626(c)), the Secretary
of the Treasury shall commence immediate efforts within the Paris Club
of Official Creditors, as well as the International Bank for
Reconstruction and Development (World Bank), the International Monetary
Fund (IMF), and other appropriate multilateral development
institutions, to ensure that the provision of debt cancellation to the
countries is not conditioned on any agreement by such a country to
implement or comply with policies that deepen poverty or degrade the
environment, including any policy that--
``(1) implements or extends user fees on primary education
or primary health care, including prevention and treatment
efforts for HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria, and infant, child,
and maternal well-being;
``(2) provides for increased cost recovery from poor people
to finance basic public services such as education, health
care, or sanitation;
``(3) would have the effect of increasing the cost to
consumers with incomes of less than $2 per day for access to
clean drinking water through--
``(A) decreased public subsidy for water supply,
treatment, disposal, distribution, or management;
``(B) reduced intrasectoral or intersectoral
subsidization of residential water consumers with
incomes of less than $2 per day;
``(C) reduced government ability to regulate; or
``(D) mandated privatization of water; or
``(4) undermines workers' ability to exercise effectively
their internationally recognized worker rights, as defined
under section 526(e) of the Foreign Operations, Export
Financing and Related Programs Appropriations Act, 1995 (22
U.S.C. 262p-4p).
``(b) Annual Reports to the Congress.--Not later than December 31
of each year, the President shall submit to the Committees on Banking
and Financial Services and on International Relations of the House of
Representatives and the Committees on Foreign Relations and on Banking,
Housing, and Urban Affairs of the Senate a report, which shall be made
available to the public, on the activities undertaken under this
section, and other progress made in accomplishing the purposes of this
section, for the prior fiscal year.''.
SEC. 5. CONDITIONAL BAN ON PROVIDING FUNDS TO THE IMF.
(a) In General.--None of the funds appropriated in any Act may be
obligated or made available to the International Monetary Fund (IMF)
unless--
(1) the IMF has cancelled all debts owed to it by eligible
poor countries as described in section 1626(a)(1) of the
International Financial Institutions Act;
(2) the IMF has terminated its involvement in the Poverty
Reduction and Growth Facility and any other program to
condition debt relief on implementation of structural
adjustment; and
(3) the Secretary of the Treasury has certified to the
Congress that the conditions referred to in paragraphs (1) and
(2) of this subsection have been met.
(b) Limitation.--Subsection (a) shall not apply to any funds
appropriated to provide debt relief to poor countries.
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