# **Congresswoman Betty McCollum**

***Serving Minnesota\'s 4th Congressional District***

**1714 Longworth HOB Washington, DC 20515**

[**www.mccollum.house.gov**](http://www.mccollum.house.gov/)

**For Immediate Release:** November 13,
2023                                         

**Contact:** Cleve Mesidor, (202) 225-6631 /
<cleve.mesidor@mail.house.gov>

**Remarks as prepared**

Caucus on Congressional -- World Bank Dialogue Launch

Good afternoon.

It's my pleasure to welcome you to the official launch of the Caucus on
Congressional-World Bank Dialogue. 

I am very pleased to be joined today by my colleague and caucus
co-chair, Representative Kevin Brady of Texas. 

We are all honored World Bank President Robert Zoellick is standing with
us at the start of this effort. I have the utmost respect for President
Zoellick.

He is an experienced, respected leader who inherited a tough job at a
very difficult moment for the Bank, and for the global system. I'm proud
to see that he is taking the toughest global issues head-on and offering
a compelling vision for the future of the World Bank. 

We are joined by several other distinguished guests. 

We would like to recognize my former House colleague Jim Kolbe. 
Congressman Kolbe continues to be a champion for development issues as a
Senior Fellow at the German Marshall Fund. 

We also extend a special welcome to Mr. Whitney Debevoise, the U.S.
Executive Director of the World Bank.

We are grateful these leaders are with us today to recognize the
importance of the relationship between the U.S and the World Bank, and
specifically the importance of engagement between Members of Congress
and the Bank.

This relationship dates back to 1944 when the World Bank was established
to help rebuild a devastated Europe at the end of World War Two. 

The Congress has helped to sustain this partnership in the decades that
followed with generous and regular appropriations to the Bank's
International Development Agency, known as IDA, and through the policy
leadership of the Executive Branch.

In fact, this year marks the 15^th^ replenishment of IDA and we're
working for another substantial commitment from the United States.

Over the past 60 years, the Bank's mission has evolved to include the
fight against poverty and the pursuit of a shared global prosperity.   

This Caucus comes into being at a moment when Congress and the World
Bank are both confronting new global challenges, including climate
change, rising food prices, and energy security. 

These challenges are placing new demands on us all and require a renewed
commitment to global collaboration.

And, it will be up to the next President and Congress to re-evaluate our
nation's role in the world and how we will re-shape our foreign policy
in the 21^st^ Century.  

One of the essential questions in this discussion will be how the United
States should work with multilateral institutions like the World Bank to
achieve common goals through cooperative action.

What the World Bank should expect from Congress is a forum for dialogue
and discussion -- sometimes yielding disagreement and other times
achieving consensus.

Our Executive Branch is calling upon Congress to invest in the World
Bank -- over \$1 billion a year.  As an investor, we must ask questions
and should share our views with the leadership of the Bank.

This caucus provides Congress with the opportunity to share ideas,
listen to experts, and learn about the important role the Bank plays in
confronting the problems faced by billions of the world's poorest
people.

Through dialogue, the Congress can gain better access to the Bank's
tremendous resources on issues of international development;

Through dialogue, issues of concern and disagreement can be respectfully
raised and properly addressed;

And through dialogue, we will improve coordination to get better results
-- that means more lives saved; fewer hungry children; better access to
clean water, jobs, and a future for millions of people in the developing
world.

I'm pleased to say this caucus will be strongly bipartisan due to the
commitment of my colleague and Caucus Co-Chair \-- Congressman Kevin
Brady from the 8^th^ Congressional District of Texas and a member of the
House Ways and Means Committee.

Thank you, Congressman Brady.