Gephardt Backs IMF Funding Offer (fwd)

[Robert Weissman <rob@essential.org>]

Gephardt Backs IMF Funding Offer
>
> (March 4, AAS)
>
> NEW YORK (AP) - Saying he's no isolationist, House Democratic leader
> Dick Gephardt supported the Clinton administration's proposal for $18
> billion in new financing for the International Monetary Fund.
>
> The Missouri Democrat, speaking Tuesday to the Council on Foreign
> Relations, said he had been "misunderstood and misrepresented" as a
> protectionist and isolationist in his successful opposition last year
> to giving President Clinton "fast-track authority" to negotiate trade
> agreements.
>
> The IMF funding proposal is aimed at trying to stabilize Asian
> economies, including countries that compete with American businesses.
>
> Gephardt opposes trade agreements that don't contain requirements on
> treatment of workers and environmental protection, but he has not
> demanded that the IMF insist on such standards as a condition for aid.
>
> He said this was not contradictory.
>
> "We have patients in the emergency room. You try to bring them back to
> life before you talk to them about their diet," he told The New York
> Times after speaking to the council.