I 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 605 

To amend the Special Drawing Rights Act in order to strengthen congressional oversight with respect to allocations of Special Drawing Rights 

by the International Monetary Fund, and to prohibit such allocations 

for perpetrators of genocide and state sponsors of terrorism without 

congressional authorization, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JANUARY 27, 2023 

Mr. HILL (for himself, Mr. BARR, and Mr. HUIZENGA) introduced the 

following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Financial Services 

A BILL 

To amend the Special Drawing Rights Act in order to 

strengthen congressional oversight with respect to allocations of Special Drawing Rights by the International 

Monetary Fund, and to prohibit such allocations for perpetrators of genocide and state sponsors of terrorism 

without congressional authorization, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Special Drawing 

5 Rights Oversight Act of 2023’’. 


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•HR 605 IH

1 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

2 The Congress finds as follows: 

3 (1) The allocation of Special Drawing Rights 

4 (SDRs) through the International Monetary Fund 

5 (IMF) creates unconditional liquidity for IMF mem6 ber countries. 

7 (2) According to article XVIII of the Articles of 

8 Agreement of the IMF, allocations of SDRs ‘‘shall 

9 seek to meet the long-term global need’’ in reserve 

10 assets. 

11 (3) SDRs are allocated in proportion to the 

12 quotas of IMF members, such that the G20 alone is 

13 entitled to approximately two-thirds of a general al14 location. At the same time, the Board of Governors 

15 of the Federal Reserve System has swap line ar16 rangements with the central banks of eight G20 

17 members, including the European Central Bank, the 

18 Bank of Japan, and the Bank of England, for the 

19 purpose of providing sufficient liquidity. 

20 (4) The size of SDR allocations has expanded 

21 dramatically, rising from 9,300,000,000 SDRs in 

22 1970–1972, to 12,100,000,000 SDRs in 1979–1981, 

23 to 204,000,000,000 SDRs in 2009, with proposals 

24 for a new, unilateral allocation that bypasses con25 gressional authorization in an amount of approxi26 mately 450,000,000,000 SDRs. 


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•HR 605 IH

1 (5) Under current law, the Secretary of the 

2 Treasury is able to bypass Congress and approve an 

3 allocation of SDRs in a manner that provides uncon4 ditional liquidity in the following approximate 

5 amounts: $41,700,000,000 to the People’s Republic 

6 of China; $17,600,000,000 to the Russian Federa7 tion; $4,900,000,000 to the Islamic Republic of 

8 Iran, and $5,000,000,000 to Venezuela. In addition, 

9 current law permits allocations in these amounts to 

10 be made in successive years that span two basic pe11 riods. 

12 (6) In the 98th Congress, the House of Rep13 resentatives passed the bipartisan International Re14 covery and Financial Stability Act, which would have 

15 prohibited new allocations of SDRs without congres16 sional authorization. 

17 SEC. 3. STRENGTHENING CONGRESSIONAL OVERSIGHT. 

18 Section 6 of the Special Drawing Rights Act (22 

19 U.S.C. 286q) is amended— 

20 (1) in subsection (a)— 

21 (A) by striking ‘‘each basic period’’ and in22 serting ‘‘any 10-year period’’; and 

23 (B) by inserting ‘‘25 percent of’’ before 

24 ‘‘the United States quota’’; and 

25 (2) in subsection (b)— 


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•HR 605 IH

1 (A) by inserting ‘‘, or consent to or acqui2 esce in such an allocation,’’ before ‘‘without 

3 consultations’’; 

4 (B) by striking ‘‘90’’ and inserting ‘‘180’’; 

5 and 

6 (C) by inserting ‘‘Chairman and ranking 

7 minority members of’’ before ‘‘the appropriate 

8 subcommittees’’. 

9 SEC. 4. PROHIBITION ON ALLOCATIONS FOR PERPETRA10 TORS OF GENOCIDE AND STATE SPONSORS 

11 OF TERRORISM WITHOUT CONGRESSIONAL 

12 AUTHORIZATION. 

13 Section 6(b) of the Special Drawing Rights Act (22 

14 U.S.C. 286q(b)) is amended by adding at the end the fol15 lowing: 

16 ‘‘(3) Unless Congress by law authorizes such action, 

17 neither the President nor any person or agency shall on 

18 behalf of the United States vote to allocate Special Draw19 ing Rights under article XVIII, sections 2 and 3, of the 

20 Articles of Agreement of the Fund to a member country 

21 of the Fund, if the President of the United States has 

22 found that the government of the member country— 

23 ‘‘(A) has committed genocide at any time dur24 ing the 10-year period ending with the date of the 

25 vote; or 


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1 ‘‘(B) has repeatedly provided support for acts 

2 of international terrorism.’’. 

Æ 


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