More on Senate/IMF (fwd)

[Robert Weissman <rob@essential.org>]

Senate panel approves 18 billion dollars for IMF
Date: Tue Mar 17 14:05:59 CST 1998
                                         
   WASHINGTON, March 17 (AFP) - A US injection of almost 18 billion  
dollars for the IMF was approved by a Senate committee Tuesday, but 
lawmakers declined to pay back US debts to the United Nations. 
   The Senate Appropriations Committee also approved 1.3 billion
dollars for ongoing US military activities in the Gulf connected with
Iraq and 383 million dollars for operations in Bosnia. 
   The money for the International Monetary Fund was approved on the
condition that the IMF adopt several reforms -- conditions Treasury
Secretary Robert Rubin was reported to oppose. 
   Under the legislation -- which still needs further approvals by
the full Senate and the House of Representatives -- Rubin would have 
to certify to Congress that borrowers of IMF funds "end directed
lending and subsidies to favored enterprises and individuals," said 
Republican Senator Mitch McConnell. 
   He said the provision was aimed at "crony capitalism," an allusion
to practices under the government of Indonesian President Suharto. 
   The money was requested by President Bill Clinton because the IMF
has seen its reserves depleted as a result of the Asian economic
crisis. 
   Appropriations Committee Chairman Ted Stevens said almost one
billion dollars in UN arrearages could still be approved under sepa-
rate legislation at a later date. 
   Propects for approval of the UN money, however, have been seri-
ously jeopardized by objections in the House, where Republicans
bristled at UN Secretary General Kofi Annan's threat to take away 
Washington's right to vote if it continued to refuse to pay its
debts. 
   And even the IMF money may have a hard time winning ultimate
approval because the House plans to attach to it a controversial
unrelated provision restricting international family planning organi-
zations that receive US money from lobbying on the abortion issue. 
   Democratic Senator Patrick Leahy decried what he called "foreign  
policy making by whim." 
   Republicans, he charged, had reneged on an earlier agreement to  
pay the UN dues, adding he "hadn't seen that type of irresponsibility
in foreign affairs since I've been here." 
                
 
U.S. Senate panel approves IMF funding, reforms
Date: Tue Mar 17 14:06:00 CST 1998
                                         
         WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The  Senate Appropriations Committee 
approved compromise legislation Tuesday to fund and reform the
International Monetary Fund (IMF). 
         The package, which includes $18 billion for the IMF and sets 
out specific reforms for the lending agency, was approved by a vote
of 26-2. 
         In a snub to the United Nations, the committee did not
include funding to pay for U.S. arrears to that world body. 
         Committee chairman Ted Stevens, an Alaska Republican, wel-
comed the vote and urged the Senate to move quickly on the package. 
         But Sen. Mitch McConnell, a Kentucky Republican, said the  
compromise package would change the way the IMF did business. 
         ``The impact of these reforms will be clear and far-
reaching,'' McConnell said, adding that some provisions may not have
the support of the Treasury Department. ``I can already hear
Treasury's lament.'' 
         The bill includes several reform conditions, calling on the 
IMF to be more open to Congressional audits and reviews. It will also
urge countries that receive IMF aid to treat domestic and foreign
creditors more equally and comply with international trade rules. It
requires regular reports by the U.S. Treasury secretary on IMF
operations. 
         The vote boosted President  Clinton's drive for $18 billion 
to replenish IMF resources, drained by three rescue packages last
year in Asia totaling more than $100 billion. But IMF funding still
faces hurdles in Congress that could prove insurmountable. 
         In the House of Representatives, Republicans have vowed to  
attach anti-abortion measures to IMF and U.N. funding. The abortion
issue killed funding for the IMF last November and could derail it
again this year because it would drive away Democrats and invite a
presidential veto. 
         The Appropriations Committee's bill now advances to the  
Senate floor for consideration.