[stop-imf] Urgent Alert: support anti-structural adjustment legislation (US)

[Robert Weissman]

Monday, September 10, 2001

U.S. Action Alert:  Call Congress to Support Vital Anti-Structural
Adjustment Legislation

(for more information: Soren Ambrose at 50 Years Is Enough Network -
soren@50years.org - 202/IMF-BANK)

The International Monetary Policy Subcommittee of the House Financial
Services Committee (there=92s a mouthful) meets TOMORROW morning (Tuesday,
September 11) to =93mark up=94 legislation authorizing funding for several
bodies over which it has jurisdiction.

This is an important opportunity to exploit the enormous leverage the U.S.
government has over international financial institutions. Congress can
approve or reject the money that backs up that leverage, and so can apply
conditions of its own on the funding. This opens up a genuine opportunity
for creating change: members of Congress, from any party or persuasion,
can be educated about the IMF and World Bank (or, as in this case, the
regional development banks), and they can demand changes that no U.S.
Administration is likely to initiate on its own.

The bill that the subcommittee will be going through and revising on
Tuesday includes funding for the Asian Development Fund, a major component
of the Asian Development Bank (a geographically-specialized clone of the
World Bank).  Thanks to cooperation between the subcommittee=92s chair, Rep=
=2E
Doug Bereuter (R-Nebraska), and the ranking minority member, Rep. Bernie
Sanders, the legislation already has in it significant measures.  For
example, it requires that the U.S. pursue a policy of insisting on open
Board meetings at the ADB and its sister institutions, the African
Development Bank and the Inter-American Development Bank.  This matches
one of the demands prepared by the Mobilization for Global Justice (MGJ)
for the Sept. 25-30 events at the annual meetings of the IMF and WB.
Approving the legislation as it stands would be an unprecedented step in
Congressional demands for complete openness at the international financial
institutions.  It will make it very difficult for the ! ! IMF and WB to
escape pressure to do the same as the ADB (should the U.S. carry the day
there).  Already this Mobilization demand for real transparency is playing
well in the pre-mobilization press coverage; this victory could greatly
bolster its prospects.

Also included in the Bereuter/Sanders bill is a provision closing the
=93loophole=94 which Congress (perhaps inadvertently) created with its pass=
age
of a measure requiring the U.S. Treasury Department to oppose any Regional
Development Bank program with =93user fees=94 for primary health or educati=
on.
Treasury has so far avoided enforcing this law, claiming that the loophole
(ambiguity on whether user fee programs with =93exemptions=94 for the most
impoverished -- a system that has almost never worked -- can be accepted)
to avoid having to actually oppose user fees.  This bill would eliminate
that escape hatch for Treasury.  By specifically targeting health and
education user fees, it aims to start the hard work of eliminating
conditions of structural adjustment conditions.

There are also one, and possibly two, amendments that would begin to
follow through on the Mobilization=92s demands of these institutions.  The
first is an amendment prepared by Rep. Barbara Lee (D-California), which
would require that the U.S. representative to the regional development
banks oppose any loans for big dam projects which do not conform to the
recommendations of the World Commission on Dams (WCD).  The WCD was set up
by high-level people from the public and private sectors; the WB was in
fact instrumental in establishing the Commission.  But its findings were
not compatible with the free-market, anti-community approach of the big
corporations and power-brokers, so the WB announced it would ignore them!
This amendment reflects the Mobilization=92s demand for a cessation of
environmentally damaging, polluting, and deadly.

Rep. Lee is still trying to integrate the =93WCD/dams=94 language into the
opening text of the bill to be discussed.  That would be the preferred
alternative, but because we will not know whether that has worked until
the last minute, we ask that you call the members of the subcommittee and
urge them to approve or advocate for this provision.

The other amendment is being prepared by Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Illinois).
It goes after another SAP condition that is becoming increasing
common.would stop the U.S. from supporting policies at the Regional
Development Banks which have resulted in poor people in developing
countries losing their access to clean drinking water.

The intent of the amendment is to curtail U.S. support for regional
development banks=92 policies that promote "full cost recovery" in the wate=
r
sector as part of the Bank's push to privatize public water systems. These
policies have often resulted in poor people losing access to clean
drinking water as a result of increased rates. You may be aware that there
was an uprising in Cochabamba, Bolivia last year around this issue.
Although the World Bank claimed that it was not responsible for the terms
of the privatization that sparked the uprising in Bolivia, the Bolivia
example is in any event clearly illustrative of the potential consequences
of the World Bank's orientation. In Africa as well these policies have
been associated with cholera outbreaks when poor people lost access to
clean drinking water.

Please contact Members of the Subcommittee TODAY and Wednesday and ask
them to support the Schakowsky Amendment to stop the World Bank from
cutting off poor people's access to clean drinking water, the Lee
Amendment to oppose large dams, and to oppose any attempts to gut the
Bereuter/Sanders bill, which is the starting point for the "makeup." The
Congressional switchboard is 202-224-3121; ask to be transferred to the
Member=92s office. Ask to speak to the staffer who handles the Internationa=
l
Monetary Policy and Trade Subcommittee, and tell him or her (or leave a
message) that the Representative should support the Schakowsky Amendment
to stop the regional development Bank from cutting off impoverished
people's access to clean drinking water.

Please call any of the following Representatives -- it=92s better if you=92=
re
in district or near district, or have some other plausible connection to
the Congressman.

Democrats:

Maxine Waters, CA
Barney Frank, MA
Melvin L. Watt, NC
Barbara Lee, CA
Paul E. Kanjorski, PA
Brad Sherman, CA
Carolyn B. Maloney, NY
Luis V. Gutierrez, IL
Ken Bentsen, TX

Republicans:

Doug Bereuter, NE, Chairman
Doug Ose, CA, Vice Chairman
Marge Roukema, NJ
Richard H. Baker, LA
Michael N. Castle, DE
Jim Ryun, KS
Donald A. Manzullo, IL
Judy Biggert, IL
Mark Green, WI
Patrick J. Toomey, PA
Christopher Shays, CT
Gary G. Miller, CA
Shelley Moore Capito, WV
Mike Ferguson, NJ



Text of the Amendment on Water:

The Secretary of the Treasury shall instruct the United States Executive Di=
rector at each
international financial institution (as defined in section 1701(c)(2) of th=
e International Financial
Institutions Act) and the International Monetary Fund to oppose any loan, p=
roject, grant or other
program of these institutions for: any water or wastewater system or water =
or wastewater
system-related construction, refurbishment, reorganization, restructuring, =
adjustment, decentralization, corporatization, reform or other program that=
 includes any provision that would
increase the cost to poor consumers for access to  clean drinking water, in=
cluding any: increased
cost recovery from residential water consumers; decreased public subsidy fo=
r water supply
treatment, disposal, distribution or management; reduced intrasectoral subs=
idization of poor
residential water consumers; or reduced intersectoral subsidization for res=
idential water consumers.


50 YEARS IS ENOUGH NETWORK - 202/463-2265 - soren@50years.org - 50years@50 =
-years.org - www.50years.org