IV

106TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION H. RES. 479

Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives regarding global

sustainable development, and for other purposes.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

APRIL 13, 2000

Mr. SANDERS (for himself, Mr. BROWN of Ohio, Mr. DEFAZIO, Mr. EVANS,

Mr. KUCINICH, Ms. LEE, Ms. MCKINNEY, and Ms. WOOLSEY) submitted

the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on International Relations, and in addition to the Committees on Banking and

Financial Services, and Ways and Means, for a period to be subsequently

determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned

RESOLUTION

Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives regarding global sustainable development, and for other purposes.

Whereas a new global economy has emerged over the past 25

years;

Whereas the global economy has had a profound and at times

destructive impact on the majority of Americans and of

people around the world;

Whereas most people have had little input in designing or

governing the global economy;
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Whereas the current structure of the global economy therefore violates the fundamental right of people to equality

and self-determination as proclaimed in the Declaration

of Independence of the United States and the Universal

Declaration of Human Rights; and

Whereas uncontrolled globalization threatens the sustainability of local and global environments: Now, therefore,

be it

1 Resolved,

2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

3 This resolution may be cited as the ‘‘Global Sustain4 able Development Resolution’’.

5 SEC. 2. SENSE OF THE HOUSE WITH RESPECT TO CONTROL

6 OF THE GLOBAL ECONOMY.

7 It is the sense of the House of Representatives that

8 the United States and the people of the United States,

9 and the people and governments of the other Nations of

10 the world, should take actions to establish democratic con11 trol over the global economy.

12 SEC. 3. FINDINGS WITH RESPECT TO UNREGULATED ECO13 NOMIC GLOBALIZATION.

14 The House of Representatives makes the following

15 findings of fact:

16 (1) EFFECTS OF UNREGULATED ECONOMIC

17 GLOBALIZATION.—Experience has proved that un18 regulated economic globalization tends to generate

19 the following deleterious consequences:
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1 (A) VOLATILITY.—Global financial deregu2 lation has reduced barriers to the international

3 flow of capital. More than $1,500,000,000,000

4 flows across international borders every day in

5 the foreign currency market alone, a volume so

6 large that a single nation cannot by interven7 tion create or restore monetary stability. The

8 result is a world economy marked by dangerous

9 and disruptive financial volatility.

10 (B) ‘‘RACE TO THE BOTTOM’’.—

11 Globalization promotes a destructive competi12 tion in which workers, communities, and entire

13 nations are forced to cut labor, social, and envi14 ronmental costs in order to attract mobile cap15 ital. When many countries each tries to under16 cut their competitors the result is a disastrous

17 ‘‘race to the bottom’’.

18 (C) INADEQUATE DEMAND.—As each work

19 force, community, and nation seeks to become

20 more competitive by reducing wages and social

21 and environmental overheads, lower wages and

22 reduced public spending result in less buying

23 power. This leads to stagnation, recession, un24 employment, and economic crisis on national,

25 regional, and global scales.
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1 (D) INCREASED POVERTY.—The past

2 quarter-century of globalization has seen not a

3 reduction but a vast increase in poverty, as

4 demonstrated by the following examples:

5 (i) In the global economy, the number

6 of unemployed persons is approaching

7 1,000,000,000.

8 (ii) In the economy of the United

9 States, real average wages were $9 per

10 hour as of 1973 and had decreased to $8

11 per hour as of 1998, 25 years later. The

12 median family income was $1,000 less in

13 1996 than it was in 1989. While this de14 crease in median family income was occur15 ring, the workload of the typical married

16 couple increased by 247 hours per year, or

17 more than 6 weeks of additional work.

18 (E) ECONOMIC INEQUALITY.—Economic

19 globalization has contributed to an enormous

20 increase in the concentration of wealth and the

21 growth of poverty both within nations and

22 worldwide, as demonstrated by the following ex23 amples:

24 (i) The single richest person in the

25 United States has wealth equal to the com-
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1 bined wealth of the people who comprise

2 the least wealthy 40 percent of the popu3 lation of the United States.

4 (ii) The combined wealth of the 3

5 richest individuals in the world is greater

6 than the combined gross domestic product

7 of the 48 poorest countries in the world,

8 which represent one-quarter of the nations

9 in the world.

10 (iii) The 225 richest individuals in the

11 world, 60 of whom are residents of the

12 United States with combined assets of ap13 proximately $311,000,000,000, have a

14 combined wealth of more than

15 $1,000,000,000,000, which is equal to the

16 combined annual income of the people who

17 comprise the least wealthy 47 percent of

18 the world population.

19 (iv) The 447 richest individuals in the

20 world have a combined wealth greater than

21 the combined annual income of the people

22 who comprise the least wealthy half of the

23 world population.

24 (F) DISCRIMINATORY IMPACTS.—The

25 downward pressures of globalization have fo-
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1 cused most intensively on groups subjected to

2 discrimination that have the least power to re3 sist, including women, racial and ethnic minori4 ties, and indigenous peoples. Women have been

5 the primary victims of exploitation in export in6 dustries and have suffered the brunt of cut7 backs in public services and public support for

8 basic needs. Immigrants and racial and ethnic

9 minorities in many parts of the world not only

10 have been subjected to exploitation, but also

11 have been abused as scapegoats for the eco12 nomic troubles caused by corporate

13 globalization. Indigenous peoples have had their

14 traditional ways of life disrupted and their eco15 nomic resources plundered by global corpora16 tions and by governments doing the bidding of

17 global corporations.

18 (G) DEGRADATION OF DEMOCRACY.—

19 Globalization has reduced the power of individ20 uals and peoples to shape their economic des21 tinies through participation in democratic proc22 esses, as demonstrated by the following exam23 ples:

24 (i) Of the 100 largest economies in

25 the world, 51 are corporations, not coun-
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1 tries. Globalization has greatly increased

2 the power of global corporations relative to

3 local and national governments. The ability

4 of governments to pursue development, full

5 employment, and other national economic

6 goals has been undermined by the increas7 ing ability of corporations to relocate cap8 ital to other jurisdictions.

9 (ii) There are few international

10 equivalents to the antitrust, consumer pro11 tection, and other laws that provide a de12 gree of corporate accountability at the na13 tional level. As a result, corporations are

14 able to dictate policy to governments,

15 backed by the threat of relocation.

16 (iii) Governmental authority has been

17 undermined by trade agreements, such as

18 the North American Free Trade Agree19 ment and the World Trade Organization,

20 and by international financial institutions,

21 such as the International Monetary Fund

22 and the World Bank, which restrict the

23 power of national and local governments to

24 govern their own economies. These institu25 tions themselves are sorely lacking in
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1 democratic control and accountability.

2 They are all too often themselves complicit

3 in the denial of human rights.

4 (2) COMMON INTEREST.—It is in the common

5 interest of the people of the United States and of

6 the people of the world to rectify these defects.

7 SEC. 4. SENSE OF THE HOUSE WITH RESPECT TO THE POLI8 CIES OF THE UNITED STATES REGARDING

9 THE GLOBAL ECONOMY.

10 It is the sense of the House of Representatives that

11 the United States should adopt the following policies:

12 (1) GLOBAL ECONOMIC GOALS.—To reconstruct

13 the global economy to realize the following goals:

14 (A) Democracy at every level of govern15 ment from the local to the global.

16 (B) Human rights for all people.

17 (C) Environmental sustainability through18 out the world.

19 (D) Economic advancement for the most

20 oppressed and exploited parts of the population,

21 including women, immigrants, racial and ethnic

22 minorities, and indigenous peoples.

23 (2) DEMOCRATIC MULTILEVEL GLOBAL ECON24 OMY.—To construct a democratic multilevel global

25 economy that strengthens the capacity of govern-
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1 ments to expand the capacity of their people to meet

2 economic needs and that gives due regard for the

3 following considerations:

4 (A) HUMAN RIGHTS.—Under the United

5 Nations Charter on the Economic Rights and

6 Duties of States, governments have the obliga7 tion to protect the human rights of their citi8 zens. These include their labor, social, environ9 mental, economic, and cultural rights. Govern10 ments have the right to pursue policies nec11 essary to fulfill these rights.

12 (B) INTERNATIONAL ACTION.—In a global

13 economy, international coordination and inter14 national institutions are at times necessary for

15 governments to effectively meet their obligations

16 to their people and to exercise the rights nec17 essary to do so.

18 (C) SUBSIDIARITY PRINCIPLE.—To the ex19 tent feasible, economic decisionmaking should

20 follow the subsidiarity principle, under which

21 decisionmaking is exercised as close to the locus

22 of the actual activity being decided as possible.

23 (3) REDUCTION OF VOLATILITY.—To reduce

24 the threat of financial volatility and meltdown by

25 using the following measures:
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1 (A) CAPITAL CONTROLS.—Encouraging

2 capital controls to reduce the destabilizing im3 pact of international financial speculation (re4 ferred to as ‘‘hot money’’) and to restore na5 tional monetary autonomy, including—

6 (i) national controls on capital inflow

7 and outflow;

8 (ii) levies on currency exchange trans9 actions to reduce the volume of short-term

10 transactions, restore national monetary au11 tonomy, and provide a resource pool for

12 sustainable development and environmental

13 protection; and

14 (iii) other forms of regulations on cur15 rency exchange rates and volumes.

16 (B) CURRENCY STABILIZATIONS.—Fore17 stalling competitive devaluations and helping

18 countries adjust to changing conditions without

19 drastic devaluations and massive increases in

20 exports.

21 (C) APPROPRIATE ECONOMIC DEMAND.—

22 Supporting appropriate economic demand to re23 duce insufficient global economic demand,

24 which requires the concerted efforts of the

25 major economic powers to ensure that global
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1 demand remains adequate to help all economies

2 grow. Efforts to increase demand should focus

3 primarily on increasing equity and sustain4 ability by expanding the resources devoted to

5 the global poor and the global environment.

6 (D) DISCOURAGING HIGH-RISK SPECULA7 TION.—Making speculators pay for their losses

8 and eliminating international bailouts, which

9 have insulated large banks and investors from

10 the consequences of their high-risk speculations

11 and have encouraged more such speculative ven12 tures (referred to as ‘‘moral hazard’’). The re13 sult of international bailouts has been even

14 more international volatility. When assistance is

15 provided for economies in trouble, the assist16 ance should benefit the people, not the inter17 national investors who lured them into trouble

18 in the first place.

19 (4) SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT.—To counter

20 inequality, poverty, and destructive competition (the

21 ‘‘race to the bottom’’) in the global economy by

22 using the following measures:

23 (A) ENVIRONMENTAL MEASURES.—Pro24 tecting the global environment by encouraging
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1 development that enhances the environment as

2 a long-term resource.

3 (B) ECONOMIC MEASURES.—Encouraging

4 global, national, and local policies that—

5 (i) ensure livable wages;

6 (ii) make credit available for small

7 and medium-sized locally owned businesses

8 and farms;

9 (iii) pursue progressive taxes that re10 duce the burden on the poor;

11 (iv) promote long-term investment

12 rather than short-term investment that

13 skims off speculative profits;

14 (v) encourage spending on primary

15 health care, basic education, and other so16 cial services that improve the lives of peo17 ple and provide the basis for long-term

18 economic growth; and

19 (vi) empower people in local commu20 nities to use their resources to address

21 their needs, in accordance with the prin22 ciples that—

23 (I) international agreements

24 should not interfere with the right of

25 communities to set minimum stand-
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1 ards and to pursue economic self-reli2 ance; and

3 (II) national and international

4 policy should channel resources to lo5 cally controlled development.

6 (C) ENDING GLOBAL DEBT SLAVERY.—

7 Pressuring creditors to write off the debt of the

8 poorest countries and to assist other debtor

9 countries in making sustainable development

10 rather than debt repayment their first priority.

11 (D) PURSUING COOPERATION AMONG RICH

12 AND POOR COUNTRIES TO REDUCE WORLD POV13 ERTY.—Recognizing that the existing gap be14 tween the global rich and poor is unacceptable,

15 and it is unconscionable to act as if the existing

16 gap can be a permanent feature of the global

17 economy.

18 (E) GRASSROOTS ORGANIZATIONS.—En19 couraging people at the grassroots to organize

20 themselves in strong and independent trade

21 unions and other organizations to assure their

22 participation in economic decisions and in an

23 equitable distribution of economic benefits.

24 (5) DEMOCRACY.—To encourage democracy by

25 using the following measures:
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1 (A) FINANCIAL SUPPORT.—Using eco2 nomic policy to support democracy and human

3 rights. While humanitarian aid should be avail4 able to all in need, financial support should be

5 provided only in ways that encourage democra6 tization and popular participation and should

7 not be used to perpetuate regimes that deny

8 human rights.

9 (B) DEMOCRACY IN FINANCIAL INSTITU10 TIONS.—Democratizing international financial

11 institutions including the International Mone12 tary Fund and the World Bank, and inter13 national groups including the G–7/8. It is unac14 ceptable to assume that the rich countries of

15 the world can monopolize decisionmaking re16 garding the future of the global economy

17 through dominant voting privileges at the inter18 national financial institutions and through cre19 ation of major policy decisions through the G–

20 7/8. Voting in international financial institu21 tions must move toward the standard of equal

22 representation for all the world’s people. Inter23 national economic policymaking must move

24 from the ‘‘rich men’s club’’ of the G–7/8 to a

25 renewed North/South dialogue.
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1 (C) ACCOUNTABILITY IN FINANCIAL INSTI2 TUTIONS.—Making international financial insti3 tutions transparent and accountable. The proce4 dures, decisions, and programs of organizations

5 including the World Bank, International Mone6 tary Fund, and the World Trade Organization

7 need to be open to public scrutiny.

8 (D) PARTICIPATORY DECISIONMAKING.—

9 Letting those affected by international economic

10 policies participate in formulating them. Instead

11 of closed negotiations with top government and

12 corporate officials, decisions about international

13 economic agreements and loans should require

14 participation by labor unions, environmental

15 groups, women’s organizations, development or16 ganizations, and other major sectors of civil so17 ciety in each affected country.

18 (E) ESTABLISHING PLANS.—Encouraging

19 governments at every level to establish sustain20 able development plans and to provide inter21 national support for the implementation of such

22 plans.

23 (F) REDUCING ‘‘CRONY CAPITALISM’’.—

24 Ending ‘‘crony capitalism’’ by reducing the

25 domination of political systems and media by
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1 economic oligarchs and by increasing the capac2 ity of people to organize at the grassroots.

3 SEC. 5. SENSE OF THE HOUSE WITH RESPECT TO DEVEL4 OPING DIALOG REGARDING THE FUTURE OF

5 THE GLOBAL ECONOMY.

6 It is the sense of the House of Representatives that,

7 to develop the broadest possible dialog by the people of

8 the United States among themselves and with the other

9 peoples of the world regarding the future of the global

10 economy, the following actions should be carried out:

11 (1) UNITED STATES COMMISSION.—The United

12 States should establish a United States Commission

13 on the Global Economy with the following character14 istics:

15 (A) PURPOSE.—The purpose of the com16 mission should be to initiate a dialog on the fu17 ture of the global economy.

18 (B) DUTIES.—The duties of the commis19 sion should include the following duties:

20 (i) To hold hearings to investigate the

21 effect of globalization on the workers, in22 dustry, and environment of the United

23 States, which should—

24 (I) include the full participation

25 of civil society, including representa-
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1 tives from labor, women, minority, en2 vironmental, farm, and small business

3 groups; and

4 (II) have results that are widely

5 distributed and are made available for

6 public comment.

7 (ii) To hold ‘‘town meetings’’ in major

8 cities in the United States to invite public

9 participation in discussions.

10 (iii) To cooperate with similar com11 missions established by other countries and

12 by the United Nations.

13 (iv) To report its findings and rec14 ommendations to the Congress and to the

15 people of the United States.

16 (2) UNITED NATIONS COMMISSION.—The

17 United States should initiate the establishment of a

18 United Nations Commission on the Global Economy

19 with the following characteristics:

20 (A) PURPOSE.—The purpose of the com21 mission should be to initiate a global dialogue

22 on the future of the global economy.

23 (B) ACCOUNTABILITY.—The Commission

24 should function under the auspices of the
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1 United Nations, as the representative of the

2 world’s people.

3 (C) DUTIES.—The duties of the Commis4 sion should include the following duties:

5 (i) To seek to revive the North/South

6 dialogue and thereby to reorient the global

7 economy toward greater economic justice.

8 (ii) To use and expand techniques de9 veloped over the past decade to include

10 representatives of civil society and non11 governmental organizations in United Na12 tions conferences, including funding and

13 support for civil society participation.

14 (iii) To work with the United States

15 Commission on the Global Economy and

16 corresponding commissions of other na17 tions to develop the broadest possible dia18 logue regarding the future of the global

19 economy.

20 (iv) To establish a Global Economy

21 Truth Commission that—

22 (I) should have as its purpose to

23 provide citizens of the world with in24 formation needed to monitor the re25 sults, impacts, and failures of eco-
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1 nomic institutions and policy at every

2 level; and

3 (II) should have the power to in4 vestigate, publicize, and refer to other

5 authorities abuses in the use of inter6 national funds and in the exercise of

7 power of international financial insti8 tutions.

9 (v) To initiate a series of Bretton

10 Woods type international conferences,

11 which—

12 (I) should include representatives

13 not only of countries, bankers, and in14 dustry, but an equal number of citizen

15 organizations from every country, and

16 should base negotiations on an open,

17 inclusive, and democratic process; and

18 (II) should make recommenda19 tions for and initiate negotiation of an

20 international agreement for global

21 sustainable development.
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1 SEC. 6. SENSE OF THE HOUSE WITH RESPECT TO THE

2 GLOBAL SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT FI3 NANCIAL STRATEGY.

4 It is the sense of the House of Representatives that

5 the United States should enter into negotiations with

6 other members of the United Nations to develop and im7 plement a sustainable development strategy with the fol8 lowing characteristics:

9 (1) IN GENERAL.—The objective of the United

10 States in the Global Sustainable Development Agree11 ment should be to incorporate the principles, rules,

12 and policies enunciated in this Resolution and estab13 lish the institutions described in this Resolution as

14 modified by the global dialog under section 5.

15 (2) INTENT.—The intent should counter the as16 pects of the global financial system that make it

17 more difficult for communities, regions, and Nations

18 to pursue sustainable development.

19 (3) PURPOSE.—The strategy should have as its

20 purpose to restructure the international financial

21 system to avoid global recessions, protect the envi22 ronment, ensure full employment, reverse the polar23 ization of wealth and poverty, and support the ef24 forts of polities at all levels to mobilize and coordi25 nate their economic resources.
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1 (4) WORK WITH OTHER NATIONS.—The United

2 States should work with other Nations to—

3 (A) encourage economic policies based on

4 domestic economic growth and development, not

5 domestic austerity in the interest of export-led

6 growth;

7 (B) encourage the G–7/8 countries to co8 ordinate their economic policies to stimulate do9 mestic demand and prevent global deflation;

10 (C) help countries adjust currency ex11 change rates without competitive devaluations;

12 (D) develop means for assuring global li13 quidity, such as an expansion of the system of

14 special drawing rights, in order to protect the

15 global economy, and especially the economies of

16 poorer countries, from liquidity squeezes;

17 (E) encourage a return to more stable ex18 change rates in order to achieve the original

19 purposes of the Bretton Woods agreement;

20 (F) reduce the flows of destabilizing short21 term capital by the adoption of capital controls

22 as necessary;

23 (G) establish standards for and oversee the

24 regulation of banks and non-bank financial in-
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1 stitutions by national and international regu2 latory authorities;

3 (H) encourage the shift of financial re4 sources from speculation to sustainable develop5 ment that is useful and environmentally posi6 tive, such as community development and tar7 geted investment for small- and medium-sized

8 businesses and farmers; and

9 (I) pursue other measures to ensure that

10 global demand is adequate to provide full em11 ployment and a rising standard of living.

12 (5) FOREIGN CURRENCY TRANSACTION

13 TAXES.—The United States, in cooperation with

14 other nations, should establish levies on all foreign

15 currency transactions and should establish the mech16 anisms for implementing such levies on such trans17 actions. The levies should have the following pur18 poses:

19 (A) To reduce the volume of destabilizing

20 short-term cross-border financial flows.

21 (B) To restore national monetary auton22 omy over national currency.

23 (C) To provide pools of funds for invest24 ment in long-term environmentally and socially
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1 sustainable development in poor communities

2 and countries.

3 (6) PUBLIC INTERNATIONAL INVESTMENT

4 FUNDS.—The United States, in cooperation with

5 other nations, should establish 1 or more public

6 international investment funds. The funds should

7 have the following purposes:

8 (A) To meet human and environmental

9 needs and ensure adequate global demand by

10 channeling funds into sustainable long-term in11 vestment.

12 (B) To counter global economic cycles by

13 expansion and contraction of fund activities.

14 (7) INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTIONS.—The

15 United States, in cooperation with other nations,

16 should develop international institutions to perform

17 functions of monetary regulation that are performed

18 inadequately by national central banks, which may

19 include the following functions:

20 (A) Maintaining a system of internation21 ally coordinated minimum reserve requirements

22 on the consolidated global balance sheets of all

23 financial firms.
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1 (B) Utilizing reserve requirements to

2 counter cyclical variations in global growth

3 rates.

4 (C) Coordinating efforts to reduce fluctua5 tions in currency exchange rates through com6 plementary national fiscal and monetary policies

7 and international exchange rate agreements.

8 (8) DEBT CANCELLATION.—The United States

9 should take the following actions with respect to

10 debt cancellation:

11 (A) INITIATIVES.—The United States

12 should work with the G–7/8, the commercial

13 banks, the International Monetary Fund, the

14 World Bank, regional development banks, and

15 other international financial institutions to pur16 sue debt cancellation initiatives that—

17 (i) provide for creditors to write off

18 the debts of the most impoverished coun19 tries by the end of the year 2000; and

20 (ii) have as their final goal to allow

21 countries to pursue sustainable domestic

22 development.

23 (B) CANCELLATION.—The United States

24 should cancel all amounts owed to the United

25 States by the most impoverished countries.
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1 (C) ADVOCACY.—The United States should

2 instruct its representatives in the International

3 Monetary Fund, the World Bank, and other

4 international financial institutions to advocate

5 full debt cancellation for the most impoverished

6 countries and to participate in debt relief.

7 Sources for debt relief may include previous

8 IMF accounts, special drawing authority, en9 hanced structural adjustment facility reserve

10 account, lower collateral requirements, and

11 gold. The international financial institutions

12 should provide $1,000,000,000 of their own re13 sources to support substantial debt relief for

14 the highly indebted countries.

15 (D) NO STRUCTURAL ADJUSTMENT CONDI16 TIONS.—The United States should urge the

17 principle that debt cancellation should not de18 pend on adherence to structural adjustment or

19 similar programs.

20 (E) SUPPORT INVESTMENT.—The United

21 States should urge the principle that countries

22 receiving debt relief should support investment

23 in human development by allocating at least 20

24 percent of savings from such relief to basic so-
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1 cial services, with appropriate input from civil

2 society in developing basic service plans.

3 (F) EXPORT EARNINGS.—The United

4 States should not require any country to pay an

5 amount exceeding 5 percent of its annual ex6 port earnings toward the servicing of foreign

7 loans.

8 (G) MILITARY SPENDING.—The United

9 States should urge the principle that funds re10 ceived for debt relief may not be used to in11 crease military spending.

12 (9) INSOLVENCY MECHANISM.—The United

13 States should cooperate with other Nations to estab14 lish, for highly indebted nations, an insolvency or

15 ‘‘bankruptcy’’ mechanism with the following charac16 teristics:

17 (A) IN GENERAL.—The mechanism should

18 draw upon the experience of other bankruptcy

19 procedures for governments, such as the munic20 ipal insolvency provisions of chapter 9 of the

21 United States bankruptcy law.

22 (B) ARBITRATION PANELS.—The mecha23 nisms should provide for the creation of arbitra24 tion panels with the following characteristics:
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1 (i) Each arbitration panel should con2 sist of arbiters nominated in equal num3 bers by creditors and debtors, with 1 addi4 tional arbiter elected by the nominated ar5 biters.

6 (ii) Each arbitration panel should es7 tablish the debtor’s capacity to pay, after

8 considering expenditures for social safety

9 nets necessary to protect a minimum of

10 human dignity of the poor and to protect

11 the debtor’s economic future.

12 (iii) Persons affected by the results of

13 arbitration proceedings should have the

14 right to be represented in the proceedings.

15 (C) RESTRUCTURING DEBTS.—The mecha16 nisms should provide that when an arbitration

17 panel determines a country to be insolvent and

18 its debts to be unrepayable, the panel should re19 structure debts based on the debtor’s ability to

20 pay. The restructuring should apply to all credi21 tors regardless of status as a government, an

22 international financial institutions, or a private

23 creditor.
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1 SEC. 7. SENSE OF THE HOUSE WITH RESPECT TO REFORM

2 OF INTERNATIONAL FINANCIAL INSTITU3 TIONS.

4 It is the sense of the House of Representatives that

5 the United States should impose the following conditions

6 on any funding by the United States of the World Bank,

7 the International Monetary Fund, or any other inter8 national financial institution:

9 (1) LABOR CONDITIONS.—

10 (A) WORKER RIGHTS.—Each international

11 financial institution should ensure, as a condi12 tion of approval and renewal for every loan,

13 conformance with internationally recognized

14 worker rights set forth in the relevant conven15 tions of the International Labor Organization,

16 including—

17 (i) the right to freedom of association;

18 (ii) the right to organize and bargain

19 collectively;

20 (iii) the right to freedom from dis21 crimination;

22 (iv) the prohibition on the use of any

23 form of forced or compulsory labor;

24 (v) the right to strike; and

25 (vi) the right to certain minimum

26 labor standards that take into account dif-
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1 ferences in development levels among Na2 tions, including a minimum age for the

3 employment of children, and acceptable

4 conditions of work with respect to min5 imum wages, hours of work, and occupa6 tional safety and health.

7 (B) ILO REPRESENTATION.—Mission

8 teams of international financial institutions

9 should include a representative from the Inter10 national Labor Organization to take the lead in

11 negotiating labor issues.

12 (C) LOCAL REPRESENTATION.—Local

13 labor unions should participate in the negotia14 tions.

15 (D) DOCUMENTATION.—The outcome of

16 the negotiations should be reflected in all inter17 national financial institution documents.

18 (2) ENVIRONMENTAL CONDITIONS.—

19 (A) SYSTEMATIC PROCESS.—Each inter20 national financial institution should establish a

21 systematic process to review in advance, and

22 take into account in policy formation, projected

23 impacts of each lending agreement on ecological

24 sustainability.
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1 (B) ACCOUNTING.—Each international fi2 nancial institution should employ natural re3 source economists with expertise in environ4 mental accounting measures to integrate such

5 measures into technical assistance.

6 (C) REGULATIONS.—Environmental regu7 lations should not be weakened under any pro8 gram of any international financial institution.

9 (D) TAX POLICIES.—Loan programs of

10 any international financial institution should

11 encourage environmental tax policies to protect

12 the environment by correcting negative environ13 mental market externalities and other market

14 failures.

15 (E) LENDING.—All lending by any inter16 national financial institution should aim to

17 strengthen environmental laws and increase the

18 borrowing government’s capacity for environ19 mental management and enforcement. Lending

20 must also incorporate the goals of shifting the

21 portfolio and operations toward environmentally

22 sustainable investments.

23 (F) CONSISTENCY.—No project or policy

24 of any international financial institution should
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1 run contrary to the purpose or policy of any

2 multilateral environmental agreement.

3 (G) WORLD BANK ACTIONS.—The World

4 Bank should take the following actions:

5 (i) Invest 20 percent of its total en6 ergy portfolio in alternative or renewable

7 energy, demand-side management and en8 ergy efficiency programs in 2000, with the

9 share of such programs in the total energy

10 portfolio increasing 10 percent per year

11 thereafter to a permanent total to be es12 tablished.

13 (ii) Reduce carbon emissions on its

14 entire portfolio by 10 percent per year to

15 a permanent total to be established.

16 (iii) Develop and implement an action

17 plan for meeting the energy needs of the

18 world’s 2,000,000,000 rural poor.

19 (iv) Shift its transportation portfolio

20 from road and highway construction to

21 traffic demand management, road safety,

22 rail, public transportation, and projects

23 that benefit nonmotorized transport users,

24 especially in the poorest segments of soci25 ety.
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1 (v) Expand its investments in sustain2 able agriculture projects that emphasize

3 farmer participation, ecological education,

4 and training to reduce use of pesticides

5 and other chemical inputs.

6 (vi) Assist governments in developing

7 integrated policy frameworks to support

8 sustainable agriculture and local and na9 tional food security.

10 (vii) Establish forest protection, con11 servation, and reforestation as the priority

12 objective for forest sector loans.

13 (viii) Fund projects that examine al14 ternatives to wood and better efficiency in

15 wood use.

16 (ix) Increase investments for demand17 side management and water efficiency

18 projects.

19 (H) WORLD BANK EXCLUSIONS.—The

20 World Bank should exclude from funding the

21 following projects:

22 (i) Infrastructure or extractive

23 projects in frontier or primary tropical,

24 temperate, or boreal forests.
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1 (ii) Logging or other forest projects

2 unless certified by an accredited inter3 national certification body such as the For4 est Stewardship Council.

5 (iii) Projects in or impacting areas

6 listed on the United Nations list of na7 tional parks and protected areas, or nature

8 reserves/wilderness areas, or national

9 parks, or national monuments or proposed

10 nature sites.

11 (iv) Projects that involuntarily resettle

12 more than 500 people.

13 (v) Large dam projects that do not in14 corporate the recommendations of the

15 forthcoming final report of the World

16 Commission on Dams.

17 (vi) Projects involving the manufac18 ture of ozone-depleting substances or the

19 use of persistent organic pollutants or haz20 ardous pesticides.

21 (I) IMF ACTIONS.—The articles of agree22 ment of the International Monetary Fund

23 should be amended to reflect adherence to and

24 enforcement of environmental sustainability, in25 cluding the following elements:
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•HRES 479 IH

1 (i) Establishing a system of environ2 mental reviews.

3 (ii) Preparing environmental impact

4 statements for each lending agreement.

5 (iii) Requiring that borrowing coun6 tries, at a minimum, maintain and enforce

7 existing environmental regulations.

8 (iv) Requiring that environmental

9 spending as a percentage of gross domestic

10 product not decrease under any program.

11 (3) SOCIAL CONDITIONS.—

12 (A) AVAILABILITY OF CREDIT.—Credit

13 policies should not decrease the availability of

14 credit for small- and medium-sized locally

15 owned businesses and farms.

16 (B) BASIC SOCIAL SERVICES.—An eco17 nomic reform program by an international fi18 nancial institution should not result in de19 creased real per capita public spending on the

20 part of the borrower government in the areas of

21 primary health care, basic education, and other

22 basic social services.

23 (C) NO USER FEES.—An international fi24 nancial institution should not advocate user fees
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1 for basic health and education services in any

2 loan program.

3 (D) REVIEW OF IMPACTS.—Each inter4 national financial institution should establish a

5 systematic process to review in advance, and to

6 take into account in policy formation, projected

7 impacts of each lending agreement on public

8 health and poverty, as well as the impact of

9 such policies on vulnerable groups such as

10 women and children.

11 (4) DEMOCRACY AND HUMAN RIGHTS CONDI12 TIONS.—

13 (A) INDEPENDENT MONITORING PRO14 GRAM.—An independent monitoring program

15 should be established to identify violations of

16 human rights by international financial institu17 tions and should have the power to order such

18 institutions to immediately cease and desist

19 from such violations.

20 (B) PROMOTION OF DEMOCRACY AND

21 HUMAN RIGHTS.—All programs and policies of

22 international financial institutions should pro23 mote the growth and maintenance of democracy

24 and human rights in countries that receive

25 funds from such institutions. All such policies
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1 should be developed in consultation with civil

2 society. Countries that engage in war crimes,

3 such as genocide, should not receive such funds,

4 except for programs meeting the strictest condi5 tions for humanitarian aid.

6 (5) IFI GOVERNANCE.—

7 (A) OPEN BOOKS.—Each international fi8 nancial institution should open all past books

9 and records for a complete investigation and

10 audit by the Global Economy Truth Commis11 sion.

12 (B) PUBLIC RELEASE.—Each international

13 financial institution should release publicly all

14 evaluation and audit documents, interim com15 mittee and development committee documents,

16 staff country reports, and any other documents

17 and reports serving similar functions. Such

18 public release should be a regular ongoing pro19 cedure of the institution.

20 (C) DISCLOSURE.—Each international fi21 nancial institution should adopt public informa22 tion disclosure policies that are based on the

23 presumption of disclosure of information sub24 ject only to narrow and limited exceptions. In25 formation should be disclosed early enough for
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•HRES 479 IH

1 potentially affected persons to know of projects

2 in time to effectively oppose or participate in

3 the design process. Denials of requests for in4 formation should be subject to impartial review.

5 (D) ARTICLES OF AGREEMENT.—The arti6 cles of agreement of each international financial

7 institution should be amended to provide for

8 more democratic representation of the world’s

9 peoples in proportion to their numbers in its

10 governing bodies, drawing upon such govern11 ance models as the Global Environmental Facil12 ity.

13 (6) PARTICIPATION.—

14 (A) SYSTEMATIC INTEGRATION.—Public

15 participation by government ministries, labor

16 unions, environmental groups, women’s organi17 zations, development organizations, and other

18 major sectors of civil society should be inte19 grated systematically in all policy and program

20 negotiations of each international financial in21 stitution with each borrowing country.

22 (B) DOCUMENTATION.—The decisions

23 reached through the dialogue between the inter24 national financial institutions and the public

25 should be reflected in the final texts of con-
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•HRES 479 IH

1 sultations, staff concluding analyses, and coun2 try reports.

3 (C) ACCOUNTABILITY.—Each international

4 financial institution should implement inde5 pendent, impartial, and citizen-driven account6 ability mechanisms to ensure that persons af7 fected by the institution’s projects or policies

8 have a means of holding the institution ac9 countable for following its own policies and pro10 cedures. These mechanisms and procedures

11 should be no less stringent than those estab12 lished for the World Bank Inspection Panel.

13 (7) IMF MISSIONS.—

14 (A) TERMINATION OF IMF ‘‘MISSION

15 CREEP’’.—The International Monetary Fund

16 should, within 2 years after the date of passage

17 of this resolution, wind down and terminate all

18 programs and activities it has created or ex19 panded since 1971 (referred to as ‘‘mission

20 creep’’), including the following programs and

21 activities:

22 (i) Structural Adjustment Facility.

23 (ii) Enhanced Structural Adjustment

24 Facility.

25 (iii) Structural Adjustment Programs.
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•HRES 479 IH

1 (iv) Imposition of so-called ‘‘good gov2 ernance’’ policies.

3 (v) Loans for purposes other than the

4 original mission of the International Mone5 tary Fund, to address short-term external

6 trade imbalances.

7 (vi) Bailouts of banks and private

8 lenders.

9 (vii) Advice, prescriptions, and man10 dates on national economic policies.

11 (B) IMF MANDATE.—The International

12 Monetary Fund should cease to condition lend13 ing on the adoption of economic policies and

14 measures that are inconsistent with the original

15 mandate of the Fund as expressed in its arti16 cles of agreement, which is a mandate ‘‘to con17 tribute . . . to the promotion and maintenance

18 of high levels of employment and real income

19 and to the development of the productive re20 sources’’ of its members.

21 (C) NO NEW POWERS.—The International

22 Monetary Fund should abandon efforts to

23 amend its articles of agreement to give itself

24 new powers relative to liberalization of the cap-
40

•HRES 479 IH

1 ital accounts of its member countries (referred

2 to as ‘‘backdoor MAI’’).

3 SEC. 8. SENSE OF THE HOUSE WITH RESPECT TO COR4 PORATE ACCOUNTABILITY.

5 It is the sense of the House of Representatives that,

6 to help establish public control and citizen sovereignty over

7 global corporations and reduce the ability of global cor8 porations to evade local and national law, the following

9 measures should be implemented:

10 (1) ESTABLISHMENT OF CODE OF CONDUCT.—

11 The United States should enter into negotiations

12 with other countries to establish a binding Code of

13 Conduct for Transnational Corporations. The code

14 should impose on each corporation that operates in

15 more than 1 country the following requirements:

16 (A) EMISSIONS DISCLOSURES.—The cor17 poration should disclose land, water, and air

18 emissions of toxic substances for each facility

19 and disclose accidental discharges of toxic sub20 stances. The list of toxic substances for which

21 disclosure is required should include, at a min22 imum, substances covered by the toxic release

23 inventory in the United States.

24 (B) FACILITIES DISCLOSURES.—The cor25 poration should disclose the names and address-
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•HRES 479 IH

1 es of all fully or partially owned facilities and

2 all contractors and subcontractors.

3 (C) HAZARDOUS MATERIALS DISCLO4 SURES.—The corporation should disclose haz5 ardous materials imported across national bor6 ders.

7 (D) WORKER RIGHTS.—The corporation

8 should abide by all internationally recognized

9 worker rights as defined in the Trade Act of

10 1974 and all International Labor Organization

11 conventions.

12 (E) ENVIRONMENTAL STANDARDS.—The

13 corporation should adhere to standards no

14 lower than the World Bank standards on pollut15 ant discharge and all other environmental per16 formance measures.

17 (F) TERMINATION OF OPERATIONS.—The

18 corporation should give advance notification and

19 severance pay to workers when operations are

20 terminated.

21 (G) UNIONS.—The corporation should sign

22 neutrality agreements protecting union orga23 nizing efforts.
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•HRES 479 IH

1 (H) FINANCIAL DISCLOSURES.—The cor2 poration should disclose financial information

3 including—

4 (i) local profits and losses;

5 (ii) ownership;

6 (iii) environmental liabilities; and

7 (iv) information on policies of the cor8 poration that affect stakeholders other

9 than shareholders, such as employment

10 practices, worker health, tax payments,

11 and receipt of government subsidies.

12 (I) INVESTMENT.—The corporation should

13 report its investment intentions.

14 (J) EDUCATION AND JOB TRAINING.—The

15 corporation should offer employees education

16 and job training.

17 (K) SOCIAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL STAND18 ARDS.—The corporation should adhere to social

19 and environmental standards that are, at min20 imum, no less than the social and environ21 mental standards that are required of the cor22 poration in its home country.

23 (2) ENFORCEMENT OF CODE OF CONDUCT.—

24 There should be established a mechanism of adju25 dication and sanctions to enforce the code of con-
43

•HRES 479 IH

1 duct. The enforcement mechanism should allow both

2 governments and citizens to initiate complaints of

3 noncompliance by global corporations and should op4 erate in a transparent manner.

5 (3) NO REPRISALS.—Governments should not

6 be subject to trade or other reprisals for efforts to

7 enforce the code of conduct.

8 (4) STANDARDS PENDING IMPLEMENTATION.—

9 Pending the implementation of the code of conduct,

10 corporations based in the United States should im11 mediately follow, in their overseas operations, the

12 standards of the United States or the host country,

13 whichever is stronger, with respect to the following

14 matters:

15 (A) TOXIC SUBSTANCE DISCLOSURES.—

16 Disclosure of the use, emission, and accidental

17 discharge of toxic substances.

18 (B) FACILITIES DISCLOSURES.—Disclosure

19 of the names and addresses of fully or partially

20 owned facilities and of contractors and sub21 contractors.

22 (C) LABOR RIGHTS.—Core internationally

23 recognized labor rights.

24 (5) U.S. LAWS.—The laws of the United States

25 should be amended such that corporations incor-
44

•HRES 479 IH

1 porated or operating in the United States are held

2 liable for harms caused abroad and that persons ag3 grieved by such harms can pursue actions for relief

4 in the courts of the United States.

5 SEC. 9. SENSE OF THE HOUSE WITH RESPECT TO REFORM

6 OF INTERNATIONAL TRADE AGREEMENTS.

7 It is the sense of the House of Representatives that,

8 within 6 months of the passage of this resolution, the

9 President should begin the process of renegotiating all

10 agreements regulating international trade, including the

11 World Trade Organization, the North American Free

12 Trade Agreement, and bilateral investment treaties, in ac13 cordance with the following policies:

14 (1) OBJECTIVES.—The renegotiated agreements

15 should achieve the following objectives:

16 (A) REORIENTATION.—To reorient trade

17 and investment to be means to carrying out just

18 and sustainable development rather than ends

19 to be maximized for their own sake.

20 (B) PROCEDURES.—To specify in each

21 agreement objectives and time frames for

22 achieving just and sustainable development with

23 procedures for evaluation and corrective meas24 ures.
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•HRES 479 IH

1 (C) RIGHTS AND PROTECTIONS.—To re2 move labor and environmental rights and condi3 tions and social protections as factors of com4 petition, such as by international agreements to

5 avoid competitive cuts in the social safety nets.

6 (D) TRUE COSTS.—To incorporate in mar7 ket prices the true long-term costs of industrial

8 production, including the costs of resource de9 pletion, toxic waste production, total waste, and

10 disposal or recycling of final product.

11 (2) SPECIFIC PROVISIONS.—In renegotiating

12 the agreements, the United States should pursue the

13 incorporation of the following specific provisions:

14 (A) INTERNATIONAL CONVENTIONS.—En15 forceable provisions that require the contracting

16 parties to recognize and enforce the principal

17 conventions of the United Nations and the

18 International Labor Organization with regard

19 to the environment, labor, antidiscrimination,

20 and human rights.

21 (B) MINIMUM STANDARDS.—Guaranteed

22 minimum standards for dignified work, healthy

23 communities, and a clean environment.

24 (C) HEIGHTENED STANDARDS.—The right

25 of local and national governments to set stand-
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•HRES 479 IH

1 ards above the internationally guaranteed mini2 mums.

3 (D) LOCAL OBJECTIVES.—The right of na4 tions and localities to plan for local economic

5 development objectives such as raising employ6 ment levels, enhancing employment opportuni7 ties for targeted populations, raising wage levels

8 in specific industries, dignified work, and

9 healthy communities.

10 (E) MARKET ACCESS.—Preferential mar11 ket access for less developed countries as a

12 means to accelerate development and counter

13 global inequality.

14 (F) STABILIZATION.—Commodity price,

15 production, and market stabilization as a means

16 to encourage stability and development in poor17 er countries.

18 (G) ACCESS TO TECHNOLOGY.—Rapid and

19 inexpensive access to all forms of technical

20 knowledge to aid sustainable development.

21 (H) OWNERSHIP.—Protection of the right

22 of countries to take legal measures that require

23 public or state ownership in some sectors, exclu24 sive national ownership in some sectors, and na-
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•HRES 479 IH

1 tional participation in the ownership of some

2 sectors.

3 (I) PERFORMANCE REQUIREMENTS.—Pro4 tection of the right of countries to make per5 formance requirements designed to achieve

6 local, regional, and national economic objec7 tives, such as requirements for local inputs and

8 local hiring preferences.

9 (J) ANTISPECULATIVE PROVISIONS.—Pro10 tection of the right of countries to make

11 antispeculative provisions, such as requirements

12 that investments remain in place for a min13 imum period.

14 (K) CONSERVATION.—The requirement,

15 for purposes of ecological conservation, that

16 local permission be obtained for the exploitation

17 of natural resources.

18 (L) DISCLOSURE.—Full public disclosure

19 of all trade negotiations.

20 (M) FUNDING.—Funding mechanisms that

21 levy surcharges on increases in trade flows to

22 pay for environmental consequences of trade,

23 such as border pollution and increased trans24 port, and social consequences of trade, such as

25 loss of jobs and tax base.
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1 (3) REPORT.—Within 1 year after the passage

2 of this resolution and annually thereafter, the Sec3 retary of the Treasury should submit a report to the

4 Congress that describes the progress made in imple5 menting this section with respect to each agreement

6 subject to this section.

7 (4) SATISFACTION OF CONGRESS.—For each

8 agreement subject to this section, the United States

9 should withdraw from the agreement in accordance

10 with the withdrawal provisions contained in the

11 agreement unless, within 6 months after the submis12 sion of any report under paragraph (3) with respect

13 to the agreement, the House of Representatives and

14 the Senate do not each pass a resolution containing

15 an expression of satisfaction with the progress made

16 in implementing this section with respect to the

17 agreement.

18 (5) TRADE AGREEMENT NEGOTIATING AUTHOR19 ITY.—The Congress should terminate all existing

20 grants of trade agreement negotiating authority.

21 The United States should immediately cease ongoing

22 negotiations of new trade and investment agree23 ments until such time as the Congress passes new

24 negotiating authority and objectives.

Æ