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[Congressional Bills 105th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Con. Res. 337 Introduced in House (IH)]

105th CONGRESS
  2d Session
H. CON. RES. 337

Expressing the sense of Congress that the total debt owed by 31 of the 
 40 Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) to the United States should 
                              be forgiven.

_______________________________________________________________________

                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            October 8, 1998

   Mr. Campbell (for himself and Mr. Payne) submitted the following 
 concurrent resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Banking 
                         and Financial Services

_______________________________________________________________________

                         CONCURRENT RESOLUTION

 
Expressing the sense of Congress that the total debt owed by 31 of the 
 40 Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) to the United States should 
                              be forgiven.

Whereas the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the 
        International Monetary Fund have classified 40 countries as Heavily 
        Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC);
Whereas according to the Department of the Treasury, as of August 1998, 31 of 
        these 40 countries owe the United States a total of $6,750,000,000 in 
        concessional, nonconcessional, and guarantee debt;
Whereas 32 of these countries are in sub-Saharan Africa and 83 percent of these 
        countries are classified by the United Nations as being in its lowest 
        category of human development based on life expectancy, literacy, and 
        per capita national income;
Whereas most of these countries receive substantial amounts of development 
        assistance from governments, nongovernmental organizations, and 
        multilateral organizations;
Whereas since the early 1980s, these poor countries have had increasing 
        difficulty servicing their debt, resulting in the total amount of money 
        being owed by these countries to external creditors to increase from an 
        average of $122,000,000,000 for the 1983-1985 period to $221,000,000,000 
        for the 1993-1995 period; and
Whereas the Jubilee 2000/USA Campaign, a coalition of representatives from over 
        40 religious organizations, has set the millennial year of 2000 as the 
        target date to bring about major debt relief for the world's poorest 
        countries based upon the book of Leviticus in the Hebrew Scriptures, 
        which describes a Year of Jubilee every 50 years where social 
        inequalities are rectified, slaves are freed, land is returned to 
        original owners, and debts are canceled: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate concurring), 
That it is the sense of Congress that--
            (1) the total debt owed by 31 of the 40 Heavily Indebted 
        Poor Countries (HIPC) to the United States should be forgiven;
            (2) amounts that may otherwise be appropriated for funding 
        to the International Monetary Fund should instead be used to 
        pay for this debt relief; and
            (3) amounts that may be appropriated to assist heavily 
        indebted poor countries pay off their remaining debt should be 
        authorized in the form of grants and not loans.
                                 <all>
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