Members of US Congress call for no IMF funds

[Robert Weissman <rob@essential.org>]

As the Congressional leadership and the Clinton administration engage in
final negotiations over spending bills, one of the outstanding issues is
whether funding will be included for the IMF and whether Congress will
authorize the IMF to revalue its gold. The resulting monies, purportedly
to be used for debt relief, would in fact be used primarily to fill
the IMF's coffers -- and the money that would be used for debt relief
would be conditioned on poor countries adhering to structural adjustment.

Below, Members of Congress who *support* debt relief call for not
appropriating more monies to the IMF and for no authorization of gold
sales.

This debate may be resolved at any time. It would be very helpful for
groups and individuals to *immediately* draft letters that strike the same
themes as those noted below, and to send them to Members of Congress.

Robert Weissman
Essential Information			|   Internet:	rob@essential.org


> For Immediate Release						Contact:
> Jaron Bourke (Rep. Dennis Kucinich's office)
> November 10, 1999
> (202) 225-5871
> 
> 
> Bipartisan group Urges No IMF Funds in Foreign Operations Spending Bill
> 
> Washington, DC--A group of Democrats and a Republican urged the President
> to stop efforts to slip funding for the International Monetary Fund (IMF)
> into the Foreign Operations Appropriations bill.  The Administration is
> reportedly lobbying to insert language into the bill to authorize the sale
> of IMF gold reserves.
> 
> The members of Congress, who all support debt relief for the world's
> poorest countries, are sending a letter stating their opposition to the
> Treasury Department's proposal to sell gold reserves of the IMF and use a
> portion of the proceeds to reduce the debt of poor countries.
> 
> The letter states, "The Treasury Department's proposal is too stingy to
> the heavily indebted poor countries and too generous to the IMF... The
> authorization for the revaluation of IMF gold... will not free up billions
> for immediate debt relief. [It] will allow the the IMF to keep half a
> billion dollars in gold sale proceeds for its general reserves and invest
> another $2 billion.  Only the interest earned on the investment of these
> proceeds will be available for debt relief."
> 
> The members of Congress were also critical of the conditions the
> Administration's proposal would attach to debt relief.  Their letter
> states, "[Treasury's] proposal...requires that the world's poorest
> countries impose harmful IMF austerity programs as a condition for
> receiving debt relief."
> 
> The members of Congress noted that the Administration's proposal, which
> conditions debt relief on IMF economic policies, is opposed by groups from
> the developing world and non-governmental groups in the United States.
> 
> The members of Congress who signed the letter are: Dennis J. Kucinich
> (OH), Tom Campbell (CA), Bernie Sanders (VT), Peter DeFazio (OR), John
> Conyers (MI), Sherrod Brown (OH), Tammy Baldwin (WI), Barbara Lee (CA),
> Jesse Jackson Jr. (IL); Maurice Hinchey (NY); Lynn Woolsey (CA); Cynthia
> McKinney (GA)