Treasury Depressed by Hearing (fwd)

[Robert Weissman <rob@essential.org>]

Treasury wary on IMF funds as US lawmakers attack
Date: Tue Apr 21 18:41:55 CDT 1998
                                         
     WASHINGTON, April 21 (Reuters) - Members of a congressional
panel on Tuesday accused Washington's representative at the
International Monetary Fund of flouting U.S. law and a senior
Treasury official said backers of the IMF were losing ground. 
     The Treasury official, who asked not to be identified, told
Reuters he doubted Congress would approve an administration
request to provide $18 billion of new funds for the IMF. 
    "As far as we can tell, it's very bleak," the official said, 
when asked about the legislation's prospects in the House of
Representatives. But he said lawmakers might approve one small
part of the funding package. 
    The package, designed to replenish reserves drained by three
multibillion-dollar Asian rescue deals, has been approved by the
Senate, but it faces stiff opposition in the House. 
    Rep. Bernard Sanders, an independent from Vermont, said Karin
Lissakers, U.S. executive director to the IMF, had failed to push
for human and labor rights at the international agency, and he
said this violated U.S. law. 
   "You have not obeyed the law of the land," Sanders told
Lissakers at a House Banking Oversight Subcommittee hearing. 
    "The director is not using her vote to accomplish the goals
that the Congress has set out for you," added Rep. Dennis
Kucinich, a Democrat from Ohio. 
    Lissakers and Assistant Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner
said the United States was using its "voice and vote" at the IMF
to increase transparency and respond to Congressional criticism.
"We have made enormous strides," Lissakers told the panel. 
    But the attacks in Congress have hurt the IMF, and damaged
White House efforts to secure $18 billion in new funds. 
    Republican Sen. Ted Stevens, the pro-IMF chairman of the
Senate Appropriations Committee, said the package was in trouble
in the House. "I'm very frustrated," he said, adding that he was
"not hopeful" the House would move quickly. 
    "I don't think the House is hearing from the business
community," Stevens said. Business groups have been lobbying
lawmakers to support the IMF. 
    During Tuesday's acrimonious inquisition of Lissakers and
Geithner, subcommittee chairman, Alabama Republican Rep. Spencer
Bachus, said the IMF was too secretive despite U.S. efforts to
increase transparency. 
    "The IMF should not be permitted to operate like a private
club with public money," he said. 
    Sanders accused both Lissakers and the IMF management of
ignoring Indonesian President Suharto's record on human rights
abuses and a history of corruption when she backed a $40 billion
IMF-led rescue package for Indonesia. 
    House Speaker Newt Gingrich said on Monday that lawmakers
were becoming increasingly skeptical about giving the big
international lending institution additional funds. 
    "It's weaker now than it was six weeks ago -- dramatically
weaker. There are more good arguments for not doing it," Gingrich
said.