IV 

113TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. RES. 291 

Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that the Republic 

of Argentina’s membership in the G20 should be conditioned on its 

adherence to international norms of economic relations and commitment 

to the rule of law. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JULY 9, 2013 

Mr. SMITH of New Jersey (for himself and Mr. DESANTIS) submitted the 

following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs 

RESOLUTION 

Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that 

the Republic of Argentina’s membership in the G20 

should be conditioned on its adherence to international 

norms of economic relations and commitment to the rule 

of law. 

Whereas Argentina has enjoyed the privilege of membership 

in the Group of Twenty Finance Ministers and Central 

Bank Governors (G20); 

Whereas at the Summit of the Group of Twenty in 2008, 

G20 leaders declared that ‘‘our work will be guided by a 

shared belief that market principles, open trade and investment regimes, and effectively regulated financial markets foster the dynamism, innovation, entrepreneurship 


PWALKER on DSK7TPTVN1PROD with BILLS
2 

•HRES 291 IH 

that are essential for economic growth, employment and 

poverty reduction’’; 

Whereas at the Pittsburgh Summit of 2009, G20 nations 

‘‘designated the G20 to be the premier forum for our 

international economic cooperation’’; 

Whereas at the Cannes Summit of 2011, G20 leaders reaffirmed their ‘‘commitment to work together’’ and 

stressed among other principles the need to conduct 

International Monetary Fund surveillance of national 

economies, avoid protectionism and the need to reinforce 

the multilateral trading system, strengthen anti-money 

laundering measures, and combat financing of terrorism; 

Whereas the Republic of Argentina has consistently violated 

the spirit and letter of these and other G20 declarations 

through its policy of expropriating the property of foreign 

investors, evading the judgments of United States courts, 

ignoring decisions of international arbitral forums, refusing to comply with International Monetary Fund membership requirements, and failing to implement antimoney laundering and terrorist financing measures; 

Whereas Argentina’s defiance of more than 100 United 

States court judgments stemming from Argentina’s default on more than $81,000,000,000 of sovereign debt is 

ongoing and escalating; 

Whereas notwithstanding that it holds more than 

$41,000,000,000 in foreign currency reserves, Argentina 

refuses to pay these judgments, which are estimated to 

be approximately $5,000,000,000, independent of various 

further direct and indirect costs incurred by United 

States bondholders, investors, and taxpayers; 


PWALKER on DSK7TPTVN1PROD with BILLS
3 

•HRES 291 IH 

Whereas Argentina has refused to pay even the de minimis 

fees required of all parties to an ICSID dispute to fund 

the dispute-settlement process, demonstrating its utter 

lack of respect for the World Bank’s jurisdiction; 

Whereas in a display that illustrates Argentina’s contempt 

for the rule of law, Argentina’s legal counsel vowed at a 

hearing before the United States Court of Appeals for 

the Second Circuit that Argentina would ‘‘not voluntarily 

obey’’ any rulings that upheld the judgments and orders 

of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York; 

Whereas Argentina has undermined global sanctions on Iran 

by expanding bilateral trade with Iran tenfold over the 

last 5 years; 

Whereas Argentina has circumvented due legal process by 

agreeing with Iran to jointly ‘‘re-investigate’’ the 1994 

terrorist bombing of the Argentine Jewish Mutual Association (Asociacio ́n Mutual Israelita Argentina, or AMIA) 

in Buenos Aires, which killed 85 people and injured hundreds more—an agreement that ignores the 2006 indictment by independent Argentine Government prosecutors 

of five senior Iranian Government officials for orchestrating the attack, which led to the issuance of Interpol 

arrest warrants against the Iranian Government officials; 

Whereas the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) has given 

Argentina the worst evaluation of any G20 nation, highlighting Argentina’s regulatory shortcomings and the vulnerability of Argentina’s financial institutions to terrorist 

financing and money laundering; 

Whereas United States Drug Enforcement Administration 

(DEA) and United States Department of State officials 


PWALKER on DSK7TPTVN1PROD with BILLS
4 

•HRES 291 IH 

have raised concerns about Argentina’s growing role in 

the international drug trade, with a specific focus on Argentina as an increasingly important source of the precursor chemicals used in manufacturing methamphetamine, much of which is consumed in the United States; 

Whereas Argentina has undermined the rule of law by expropriating assets from the Spanish firm Repsol without 

compensation, making it more difficult for Argentine 

businesses and individuals to access international capital 

markets; 

Whereas Argentina has enacted a so-called ‘‘anti-monopoly’’ 

law and solely enforced it against an independent media 

group that has been critical of the Government, indicating that the law’s true intent is to limit the freedom 

of expression to criticize the Government; 

Whereas the Argentine executive branch has sought to undermine the independence of the Argentine judiciary by 

threatening to impeach the judges of the Federal Civil 

and Commercial Court who ruled in favor of the independent media group in its lawsuit alleging that the antimonopoly law is an unconstitutional attack on freedom of 

the press; and 

Whereas Argentina’s actions have been injurious to its credit 

worthiness and detrimental to its own citizens by directly 

contributing to Argentina’s double-digit inflation, economic stagnation, growing isolation from the international community, and borrowing costs that are three 

times higher than neighboring countries with similar fiscal profiles: Now, therefore, be it 

1 Resolved, That the House of Representatives— 


PWALKER on DSK7TPTVN1PROD with BILLS
5 

•HRES 291 IH 

1 (1) finds that the Republic of Argentina has 

2 failed to meet the responsibilities inherent to mem3 bership in the G20; and 

4 (2) calls upon the President and the Secretary 

5 of the Treasury to work with the governments of the 

6 G20 members to— 

7 (A) terminate the participation of Argen8 tina in the G20 until the President determines 

9 and reports to Congress that Argentina has— 

10 (i) reversed efforts to expropriate for11 eign investment in Argentina; 

12 (ii) fully satisfied all outstanding 

13 judgments of United States courts against 

14 it; 

15 (iii) fully honored all awards of inter16 national arbitral panels against it; and 

17 (iv) complied with the recommenda18 tions of the Financial Action Task Force; 

19 and 

20 (B) condition Argentina’s future member21 ship in the G20 on its adherence and commit22 ment to international norms of economic rela23 tions and commitment to the rule of law. 

Æ 


PWALKER on DSK7TPTVN1PROD with BILLS