I 

108TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 4793 

To provide for the cancellation of debts owed to international financial 

institutions by poor countries, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JULY 9, 2004 

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

BACHUS, Ms. LEE, and Mrs. MALONEY) introduced the following bill; 

which was referred to the Committee on Financial Services 

A BILL 

To provide for the cancellation of debts owed to international 

financial institutions 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 International Loan Elimination and Equity 

6 Act of 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 these countries receive 

17 full cancellation of their debts. 

18 SEC. 3. CANCELLATION OF DEBT OWED BY ELIGIBLE POOR 

19 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 BY ELIGIBLE 

24 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), the Inter8 national Bank for Reconstruction and Development 

9 (World Bank), and the other international financial 

10 institutions (as defined in section 1701(c)(2)), to ac11 complish the following: 

12 ‘‘(A) Each international financial institu13 tion shall cancel all debts owed to the institu14 tion by eligible poor countries. To the extent 

15 possible, each institution shall finance the debt 

16 cancellation from their ongoing operations, pro17 cedures, and accounts. 

18 ‘‘(B) Any waiting period before receiving 

19 debt cancellation shall not exceed 1 month from 

20 the date of an eligible poor country’s applica21 tion for debt cancellation. 

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

23 country shall be encouraged to allocate at least 

24 20 percent of its national budget, including the 

25 savings from the cancellation of debt, for the 
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1 provision of basic health care services, edu2 cation services, and clean water services to indi3 viduals in the country. In providing such serv4 ices, the government should seek input from a 

5 broad cross-section of members of civil society. 

6 ‘‘(2) ESTABLISHMENT OF FRAMEWORK FOR

7 CREDITOR TRANSPARENCY.—In order to ensure that 

8 creditor activity is known and assessed by all stake9 holders, the Secretary of the Treasury shall com10 mence immediate efforts, within the Paris Club of 

11 Official Creditors, the International Monetary Fund 

12 (IMF), the International Bank for Reconstruction 

13 and Development (World Bank), and the other inter14 national financial institutions (as so defined), to en15 sure that each of such institutions— 

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

17 greater transparency regarding the activities of 

18 the institution, including project design, project 

19 monitoring and evaluation, project implementa20 tion, resource allocation, and decisionmaking; 

21 and 

22 ‘‘(B) supports continued efforts to allow 

23 informed participation and input by affected 

24 communities, including translation of informa25 tion on proposed projects, provision of informa-
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1 tion through information technology applica2 tion, oral briefings, and outreach to and dia3 logue with community organizations and insti4 tutions in affected areas. 

5 ‘‘(3) AVAILABILITY ON TREASURY DEPARTMENT

6 WEBSITE OF REMARKS OF UNITED STATES EXECU7 TIVE DIRECTORS AT MEETINGS OF INTERNATIONAL

8 FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS’ BOARDS OF DIREC9 TORS.—The Secretary of the Treasury shall make 

10 available on the website of the Department of the 

11 Treasury the full record of the remarks of the 

12 United States Executive Director at meetings of the 

13 Board of Directors of the International Monetary 

14 Fund (IMF), the International Bank for Recon15 struction and Development (World Bank), and the 

16 other international financial institutions (as so de17 fined), about cancellation or reduction of debts owed 

18 to the institution involved, with redaction by the 

19 Secretary of the Treasury of material deemed too 

20 sensitive for public distribution, but showing the 

21 topic, amount of material redacted, and reason for 

22 the redaction. 

23 ‘‘(4) REPORT FROM THE COMPTROLLER GEN24 ERAL.—Within 1 year after the date of the enact25 ment of this section, the Comptroller General of the 
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1 United States shall prepare and submit to the Com2 mittee on Financial Services of the House of Rep3 resentatives and the Committee on Banking, Hous4 ing, and Urban Affairs of the Senate a report on the 

5 availability of the ongoing operations, procedures, 

6 and accounts of the International Monetary Fund 

7 (IMF), the International Bank for Reconstruction 

8 and Development (World Bank), and the other inter9 national financial institutions (as so defined) for 

10 canceling the debt of eligible poor countries. 

11 ‘‘(5) ANNUAL REPORTS FROM THE PRESI12 DENT.—Not later than December 31 of each year, 

13 the President shall submit to the Committees on Fi14 nancial Services and on International Relations of 

15 the House of Representatives and the Committees 

16 on Foreign Relations and on Banking, Housing, and 

17 Urban Affairs of the Senate a report, which shall be 

18 made available to the public, on the activities under19 taken under this section, and other progress made in 

20 accomplishing the purposes of this section, for the 

21 prior fiscal year. The report shall include a list of 

22 the countries that have received debt cancellation, a 

23 list of the countries whose request for such debt can24 cellation has been denied and the reasons therefor, 
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1 and a list of the countries whose requests for such 

2 debt cancellation are under consideration. 

3 ‘‘(b) PROMOTION OF EQUITABLE BURDEN SHAR4 ING.—In order to promote equitable burden sharing by bi5 lateral, multilateral, and private creditors, the Secretary 

6 of the Treasury shall commence immediate efforts to en7 sure that such creditors draw upon their own resources 

8 to finance debt reduction to the extent possible without 

9 diverting funds from other high-priority poverty alleviation 

10 programs. 

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

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

13 Bangladesh, Benin, Bolivia, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Bu14 rundi, Cambodia, Cameroon, Central African Republic, 

15 Chad, Cote d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethi16 opia, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, 

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

18 Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Morocco, Mozam19 bique, Namibia, Nepal, Nicaragua, Niger, Nigeria, Peru, 

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

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

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

23 ‘‘(1) the government of the country has an ex24 cessive level of military expenditures; 
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1 ‘‘(2) the government of the country has repeat2 edly provided support for acts of international ter3 rorism, as determined by the Secretary of State 

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

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

6 620A(a) of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 (22 

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

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

9 cooperate on international narcotics control matters; 

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

11 its military or other security forces) engages in a 

12 consistent pattern of gross violations of internation13 ally recognized human rights; or 

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

15 country has not been elected through free and fair 

16 elections.’’. 

17 SEC. 4. PROHIBITION OF STRUCTURAL ADJUSTMENT PRO18 GRAMS. 

19 Title XVI of the International Financial Institutions 

20 Act (22 U.S.C. 262p–262p–8) is further amended by add21 ing at the end the following: 

22 ‘‘SEC. 1627. PROHIBITION OF STRUCTURAL ADJUSTMENT 

23 PROGRAMS. 

24 ‘‘(a) PROHIBITION OF STRUCTURAL ADJUSTMENT

25 CONDITIONS.—In order to promote human and economic 
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1 development and poverty alleviation in eligible poor coun2 tries (as defined in section 1626(c)), the Secretary of the 

3 Treasury shall commence immediate efforts within the 

4 Paris Club of Official Creditors, as well as the Inter5 national Monetary Fund (IMF), the International Bank 

6 for Reconstruction and Development (World Bank), and 

7 the other international financial institutions (as defined 

8 in section 1701(c)(2)), to ensure that the provision of debt 

9 cancellation to the countries is not conditioned on any 

10 agreement by such a country to implement or comply with 

11 policies that deepen poverty or degrade the environment, 

12 including any policy that— 

13 ‘‘(1) implements or extends user fees on pri14 mary education or primary health care, including 

15 prevention and treatment efforts for HIV/AIDS, tu16 berculosis, malaria, and infant, child, and maternal 

17 well-being; 

18 ‘‘(2) provides for increased cost recovery from 

19 poor people to finance basic public services such as 

20 education, health care, or sanitation; 

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

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

23 for access to clean drinking water through— 
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1 ‘‘(A) decreased public subsidy for water 

2 supply, treatment, disposal, distribution, or 

3 management; 

4 ‘‘(B) reduced intrasectoral or intersectoral 

5 subsidization of residential water consumers 

6 with incomes of less than $2 per day; 

7 ‘‘(C) reduced government ability to regu8 late; or 

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

10 ‘‘(4) undermines workers’ ability to exercise ef11 fectively their internationally recognized worker 

12 rights, as defined under section 526(e) of the For13 eign Operations, Export Financing and Related Pro14 grams Appropriations Act, 1995 (22 U.S.C. 262p– 

15 4p). 

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

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

18 submit to the Committees on Financial Services and on 

19 International Relations of the House of Representatives 

20 and the Committees on Foreign Relations and on Bank21 ing, Housing, and Urban Affairs of the Senate a report, 

22 which shall be made available to the public, on the activi23 ties undertaken under this section, and other progress 
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1 made in accomplishing the purposes of this section, for 

2 the prior fiscal year.’’. 

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