Brief IMF Update (fwd)

[Robert Weissman <rob@essential.org>]

>From 50 Years is Enough:


April 17, 1998

Brief IMF Update

Next week may be the week when the question of IMF funding is decided.
Congress comes back from its Spring Recess and will have to deal with its
emergency funding (budget supplemental) bills.  The outcome largely depends
on whether its decided in Conference Committee or on the full House floor.

The House/Senate Conference Committee could, early in the week, decide to
reconcile their respective budget bills by inserting the $18 billion IMF
funding request.  That money is in the Senate version but not in the
House's.  If that were to happen, our attempt to defeat or condition the
expenditure would probably be doomed, since both houses then have an
up-or-down vote on the Conference Report.  Since a big part of the bill will
be emergency relief for California, Florida, and New England (for their
respective El Ninoesque disasters), it is unlikely that many would vote
against it.  It is worth noting, however, that a number of Republicans in
the House voted against the bill originally because of disagreements about
how to pay for the emergency funds, so anything is possible.

We have a better shot if the Conference Committee does not attach the IMF
money to the budget supplemental.  Then we could begin to believe the
Republican leadership's promises that the IMF will be voted on separately by
the full House.  Reportedly a number of House Republicans are circulating a
letter to put pressure on their leadership to fulfill that pledge.

Either way, we're still pushing the idea of the Klink/Ros-Lehtinen Amendment
(to condition any IMF money on a commitment by Treasury to oppose an
amendment to the IMF Charter mandating deregulation of investment capital
flows).  If the decision is made in Conference Committee, the push is mostly
to create "buzz," i.e. to get the idea out and discussed.  If we're talking
about a vote on the House floor, the amendment is a live concern.  As would
other amendments be.  There is talk of crafting another amendment to
eliminate the entire quota increase ($14.5 billion of the $18 billion).  So
the field would be wide open.

We'll keep you posted on the developments.

On Tuesday, April 21 there will be hearing on the failure of past
Congressional attempts to insist on IMF reforms.  It will be probing the
false promise of demanding that the Executive Director use her "voice and
vote" to encourage policy changes at the IMF.  Appearing at the hearing will
be the present Executive Director, Karin Lissakers, in her first
Congressional testimony (under duress -- she was threatened with a
subpoena).  Also appearing will be members of the left-right coalition
opposing the IMF, including Friends of the Earth, Walden Bello from Focus on
the Global South in Bangkok, Ralph Nader, plus folks from Cato and Heritage
Institutes.  

We are actually not seeking too much publicity for this hearing in advance,
as it seems fairly well set up and will have more impact after the fact --
i.e. in reporting on it, rather than in getting people to be there or talk
it up beforehand.  So, in contrast to our usual manner, we're not asking
folks to alert their members of Congress about this.

Thank you for all your work in contacting Representatives up until now.
Depending on events this coming week, we may be asking you to do even more.

Soren Ambrose