I
106TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. R. 1305
To prohibit funding to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) until debt
owed to the United States by heavily indebted poor countries has been
canceled.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
MARCH 25, 1999
Mr. CAMPBELL introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Com-
mittee on Banking and Financial Services, and in addition to the Com-
mittee on International Relations, for a period to be subsequently deter-
mined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions
as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned
A BILL
To prohibit funding to the International Monetary Fund
(IMF) until debt owed to the United States by heavily
indebted poor countries has been canceled.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Debt Forgiveness Act
of 1999’’.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress finds the following:
(1) The International Bank for Reconstruction
and Development and the International Monetary
Fund (IMF) have classified 40 countries as heavily
indebted poor countries (HIPC).
(2) According to the Department of the Treas-
ury, as of August 1998, these countries owe the
United States a total of $6,752,100,000 in
concessional, nonconcessional, and guarantee debt.
(3) 32 of these countries are in sub-Saharan
Africa and 83 percent of these countries are classi-
fied by the United Nations as being in its lowest cat-
egory of human development based on life expect-
ancy, literacy, and per capita national income.
(4) Most of these countries receive substantial
amounts of development assistance from govern-
ments, nongovernmental organizations, and multilat-
eral organizations.
(5) 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.
SEC. 4. CONDITIONAL BAN ON PROVIDING APPROPRIATED
FUNDS TO THE IMF UNTIL DEBT OWED TO
THE UNITED STATES BY HEAVILY INDEBTED
POOR COUNTRIES HAS BEEN CANCELED.
(a) PROHIBITION.—None of the funds appropriated
in any Act may be obligated or made available to the
International Monetary Fund (IMF) until the President—
(1) has canceled all amounts owed to the
United States (or any agency of the United States)
by poor countries described in subsection (b) as re-
sult of concessional and nonconcessional loans made,
guarantees issued, or credits extended under any
provision of law; and
(2) has certified to the Committee on Banking
and Financial Services of the House of Representa-
tives and the Committee on Foreign Relations of the
Senate that all such amounts have been canceled.
(b) ELIGIBLE COUNTRIES.—A country described in
this subsection is a heavily indebted poor country, as de-
termined by the International Bank for Reconstruction
and Development and the International Monetary Fund
for purposes of the Heavily Indebted Poor Country
(HIPC) Debt Initiative.
(c) ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS.—
(1) CANCELLATION OF DEBT NOT CONSIDERED
TO
BE
ASSISTANCE.—A cancellation of debt de-