I 

108TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 4511 

To provide for the cancellation of debts owed to the International Monetary 

Fund by poor countries, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JUNE 3, 2004 

Ms. WATERS (for herself, Mr. LEACH, Mr. FRANK of Massachusetts, Mr. 

BACHUS, and Ms. LEE) introduced the following bill; which was referred 

to the Committee on Financial Services 

A BILL 

To provide for the cancellation of debts owed to the International Monetary Fund by poor countries, 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 ‘‘Justice and Under5 standing By IMF Loan Elimination and Equity Act of 

6 2004’’ or the ‘‘JUBILEE Act of 2004’’. 

7 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

8 The Congress finds the following: 
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1 (1) Many poor countries have been struggling 

2 under the burden of international debts for many 

3 years. 

4 (2) Many poor countries have debts that are 

5 odious because they were incurred by dictatorships 

6 that did not use the funds in ways that benefitted 

7 the population of the country. 

8 (3) The international Jubilee coalitions have 

9 been working to raise awareness of the needs of 

10 these impoverished countries for full debt cancella11 tion. 

12 (4) The International Monetary Fund (IMF) 

13 has imposed onerous structural adjustment require14 ments on many poor countries as a condition of past 

15 loans and of participation in debt relief programs. 

16 (5) Justice requires that debts owed by these 

17 countries to the IMF be cancelled. 

18 SEC. 3. CANCELLATION OF DEBT OWED TO THE IMF BY ELI19 GIBLE POOR COUNTRIES. 

20 Title XVI of the International Financial Institutions 

21 Act (22 U.S.C. 262p–262p–8) is amended by adding at 

22 the end the following: 

23 ‘‘SEC. 1626. CANCELLATION OF DEBT OWED TO THE IMF BY 

24 ELIGIBLE POOR COUNTRIES. 

25 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—
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1 ‘‘(1) CANCELLATION OF DEBT.—In order to 

2 achieve multilateral debt cancellation and promote 

3 human and economic development and poverty alle4 viation in eligible poor countries, the Secretary of 

5 the Treasury shall commence immediate efforts, 

6 within the Paris Club of Official Creditors, the 

7 International Monetary Fund (IMF), and other ap8 propriate multilateral development institutions, to 

9 accomplish the following: 

10 ‘‘(A) The IMF shall cancel all debts owed 

11 to the IMF by eligible poor countries, and fi12 nance the debt cancellation from ongoing oper13 ations, procedures, and accounts of the IMF es14 tablished as of the end of the most recent fiscal 

15 year, including the Poverty Reduction and 

16 Growth Facility (formerly known as the ‘En17 hanced Structural Adjustment Facility’ or 

18 ‘ESAF’). 

19 ‘‘(B) Any waiting period before receiving 

20 debt cancellation shall not exceed 1 month from 

21 the date of an eligible poor country’s applica22 tion for debt cancellation. 

23 ‘‘(C) The government of each eligible poor 

24 country shall be encouraged to allocate at least 

25 20 percent of its national budget, including the 
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1 savings from the cancellation of debt owed by 

2 the country to the IMF, for the provision of 

3 basic health care services, education services, 

4 and clean water services to individuals in the 

5 country. In providing such services, the govern6 ment should seek input from a broad cross-sec7 tion of members of civil society. 

8 ‘‘(2) PROHIBITION OF PRIVILEGE FOR IMF

9 CREDIT.—In order to ensure that the interests of 

10 the United States are fully protected and that the 

11 IMF does not have undue influence over the policies 

12 and finances of poor countries, the Secretary of the 

13 Treasury shall commence immediate efforts, within 

14 the Paris Club of Official Creditors, the IMF, and 

15 other appropriate multilateral development institu16 tions, to ensure that the IMF does not require any 

17 country receiving new concessional loans to privilege 

18 the IMF as a creditor over the United States. 

19 ‘‘(3) ESTABLISHMENT OF FRAMEWORK FOR

20 CREDITOR TRANSPARENCY.—In order to ensure that 

21 creditor activity is known and assessed by all stake22 holders, the Secretary of the Treasury shall com23 mence immediate efforts, within the Paris Club of 

24 Official Creditors, the International Monetary Fund 

25 (IMF), and other appropriate multilateral develop-
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1 ment institutions, to ensure that each international 

2 financial institution (as defined in section 

3 1701(c)(2))— 

4 ‘‘(A) continues to make efforts to promote 

5 greater transparency regarding the activities of 

6 the institution, including project design, project 

7 monitoring and evaluation, project implementa8 tion, resource allocation, and decisionmaking; 

9 and 

10 ‘‘(B) supports continued efforts to allow 

11 informed participation and input by affected 

12 communities, including translation of informa13 tion on proposed projects, provision of informa14 tion through information technology applica15 tion, oral briefings, and outreach to and dia16 logue with community organizations and insti17 tutions in affected areas. 

18 ‘‘(4) AVAILABILITY ON TREASURY DEPARTMENT

19 WEBSITE OF REMARKS OF UNITED STATES EXECU20 TIVE DIRECTORS AT MEETINGS OF INTERNATIONAL

21 FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS BOARDS OF DIRECTORS.— 

22 The Secretary of the Treasury shall make available 

23 on the website of the Department of the Treasury 

24 the full record of the remarks of the United States 

25 Executive Director at meetings of the Board of Di-
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1 rectors of each international financial institution and 

2 the International Monetary Fund, about cancellation 

3 or reduction of debts owed to the institution in4 volved, with redaction by the Secretary of the Treas5 ury of material deemed too sensitive for public dis6 tribution, but showing the topic, amount of material 

7 redacted, and reason for the redaction. 

8 ‘‘(5) REPORT FROM THE COMPTROLLER GEN9 ERAL.—Within 90 days after the date of the enact10 ment of this section, the Comptroller General of the 

11 United States shall prepare and submit to the Com12 mittee on Banking and Financial Services of the 

13 House of Representatives and the Committee on 

14 Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs of the Senate 

15 a report on the availability of the ongoing oper16 ations, procedures, and accounts of the IMF for can17 celing the debt of eligible poor countries. 

18 ‘‘(6) ANNUAL REPORTS FROM THE PRESI19 DENT.—Not later than December 31 of each year, 

20 the President shall submit to the Committees on 

21 Banking and Financial Services, and on Inter22 national Relations of the House of Representatives 

23 and the Committees on Foreign Relations and on 

24 Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs of the Senate 

25 a report, which shall be made available to the public, 
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1 on the activities undertaken under this section, and 

2 other progress made in accomplishing the purposes 

3 of this section, for the prior fiscal year. The report 

4 shall include a list of the countries that have re5 ceived debt cancellation, a list of the countries whose 

6 request for such debt cancellation has been denied 

7 and the reasons therefor, and a list of the countries 

8 whose requests for such debt cancellation are under 

9 consideration. 

10 ‘‘(b) PROMOTION OF EQUITABLE BURDEN SHAR11 ING.—In order to promote equitable burden sharing by bi12 lateral, multilateral, and private creditors, the Secretary 

13 of the Treasury shall commence immediate efforts to en14 sure that such creditors draw upon their own resources 

15 to finance debt reduction to the extent possible without 

16 diverting funds from other high-priority poverty alleviation 

17 programs. 

18 ‘‘(c) ELIGIBLE POOR COUNTRY DEFINED.—In this 

19 section, the term ‘eligible poor country’ means Angola, 

20 Bangladesh, Benin, Bolivia, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Bu21 rundi, Cambodia, Cameroon, Central African Republic, 

22 Chad, Cote d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethi23 opia, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, 

24 Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Kenya, Lao PDR, Liberia, 

25 Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Morocco, Mozam-
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1 bique, Namibia, Nepal, Nicaragua, Niger, Nigeria, Peru, 

2 Philippines, Republic of Congo, Rwanda, Sao Tome and 

3 Principe, Senegal, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Tanzania, 

4 Togo, Uganda, Vietnam, Yemen, and Zambia, but not if— 

5 ‘‘(1) the government of the country has an ex6 cessive level of military expenditures; 

7 ‘‘(2) the government of the country has repeat8 edly provided support for acts of international ter9 rorism, as determined by the Secretary of State 

10 under section 6(j)(1) of the Export Administration 

11 Act of 1979 (50 U.S.C. App. 2405(j)(1)), or section 

12 620A(a) of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 (22 

13 U.S.C. 2371(a)); 

14 ‘‘(3) the government of the country is failing to 

15 cooperate on international narcotics control matters; 

16 ‘‘(4) the government of the country (including 

17 its military or other security forces) engages in a 

18 consistent pattern of gross violations of internation19 ally recognized human rights; or 

20 ‘‘(5) in the case of Haiti, the government of the 

21 country has not been elected through free and fair 

22 elections.’’. 
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1 SEC. 4. PROHIBITION OF STRUCTURAL ADJUSTMENT PRO2 GRAMS. 

3 Title XVI of the International Financial Institutions 

4 Act (22 U.S.C. 262p–262p–8) is further amended by add5 ing at the end the following: 

6 ‘‘SEC. 1627. PROHIBITION OF STRUCTURAL ADJUSTMENT 

7 PROGRAMS. 

8 ‘‘(a) PROHIBITION OF STRUCTURAL ADJUSTMENT

9 CONDITIONS.—In order to promote human and economic 

10 development and poverty alleviation in eligible poor coun11 tries (as defined in section 1626(c)), the Secretary of the 

12 Treasury shall commence immediate efforts within the 

13 Paris Club of Official Creditors, as well as the Inter14 national Bank for Reconstruction and Development 

15 (World Bank), the International Monetary Fund (IMF), 

16 and other appropriate multilateral development institu17 tions, to ensure that the provision of debt cancellation to 

18 the countries is not conditioned on any agreement by such 

19 a country to implement or comply with policies that deep20 en poverty or degrade the environment, including any pol21 icy that—

22 ‘‘(1) implements or extends user fees on pri23 mary education or primary health care, including 

24 prevention and treatment efforts for HIV/AIDS, tu25 berculosis, malaria, and infant, child, and maternal 

26 well-being; 
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1 ‘‘(2) provides for increased cost recovery from 

2 poor people to finance basic public services such as 

3 education, health care, or sanitation; 

4 ‘‘(3) would have the effect of increasing the cost 

5 to consumers with incomes of less than $2 per day 

6 for access to clean drinking water through— 

7 ‘‘(A) decreased public subsidy for water 

8 supply, treatment, disposal, distribution, or 

9 management; 

10 ‘‘(B) reduced intrasectoral or intersectoral 

11 subsidization of residential water consumers 

12 with incomes of less than $2 per day; 

13 ‘‘(C) reduced government ability to regu14 late; or 

15 ‘‘(D) mandated privatization of water; or 

16 ‘‘(4) undermines workers’ ability to exercise ef17 fectively their internationally recognized worker 

18 rights, as defined under section 526(e) of the For19 eign Operations, Export Financing and Related Pro20 grams Appropriations Act, 1995 (22 U.S.C. 262p– 

21 4p). 

22 ‘‘(b) ANNUAL REPORTS TO THE CONGRESS.—Not 

23 later than December 31 of each year, the President shall 

24 submit to the Committees on Banking and Financial Serv25 ices and on International Relations of the House of Rep-
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1 resentatives and the Committees on Foreign Relations and 

2 on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs of the Senate 

3 a report, which shall be made available to the public, on 

4 the activities undertaken under this section, and other 

5 progress made in accomplishing the purposes of this sec6 tion, for the prior fiscal year.’’. 

7 SEC. 5. CONDITIONAL BAN ON PROVIDING FUNDS TO THE 

8 IMF. 

9 (a) IN GENERAL.—None of the funds appropriated 

10 in any Act may be obligated or made available to the 

11 International Monetary Fund (IMF) unless— 

12 (1) the IMF has cancelled all debts owed to it 

13 by eligible poor countries as described in section 

14 1626(a)(1) of the International Financial Institu15 tions Act; 

16 (2) the IMF has terminated its involvement in 

17 the Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility and any 

18 other program to condition debt relief on implemen19 tation of structural adjustment; and 

20 (3) the Secretary of the Treasury has certified 

21 to the Congress that the conditions referred to in 

22 paragraphs (1) and (2) of this subsection have been 

23 met. 
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1 (b) LIMITATION.—Subsection (a) shall not apply to 

2 any funds appropriated to provide debt relief to poor coun3 tries. 

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