I
106TH CONGRESS
2D SESSION
H. R. 5085
To reduce the long-term lending activities of the IMF and its role in
developing countries, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
JULY 27, 2000
Mr. SANDERS
(for himself, Mr. CAMPBELL, Mr. DEFAZIO, and Mr.
KUCINICH) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Com-
mittee on Banking and Financial Services
A BILL
To reduce the long-term lending activities of the IMF and
its role in developing countries, and for other purposes.
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 ‘‘IMF Reform Act of
2000’’.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
The Congress finds that—
(1) the International Monetary Fund (IMF)
was conceived at Bretton Woods, New Hampshire,
to promote a stable international financial system;
(2) in the last 2 decades, the IMF has taken on
the role of lending to governments which cannot pay
their international debts, managing negotiations over
international debt repayments and access to credit
markets, and imposing and encouraging ‘‘structural
adjustment’’ policies in developing countries;
(3) structural adjustment policies have in many
cases led to economic instability, increased poverty
and inequality, the destruction of productive enter-
prises, and environmental degradation, while failing
to reduce debt burdens;
(4) the policies of the IMF in lending to and
managing the international debts of developing coun-
tries have often ignored the human rights and basic
needs of the majority of people in developing coun-
tries, and have allowed repressive regimes to borrow
money without popular consent, with the burden of
repayment left to the people;
(5) the international financial institutions have
sometimes encouraged developing countries to bor-
row money for policies and projects later acknowl-
edged by such institutions to have failed economi-
cally;
(6) the international financial institutions have
often lent money to corrupt regimes, which misspent
or misappropriated the money, which then had to be
paid back by the population; and
(7) in managing the issue of the international
debt, the IMF has not adequately responded to con-
cerns about the morality of forcing developing coun-
tries to repay unjust debts, and indeed has ignored
the human toll that servicing these debts has caused,
and so another mechanism is needed for addressing
these issues.
SEC. 3. ACTIONS TO REDUCE LONG-TERM LENDING BY THE
IMF.
(a) REDUCTION OF LONG-TERM LENDING BY THE
IMF.—Title XVI of the International Financial Institu-
tions Act (22 U.S.C. 262p–262p–7) is amended by adding
at the end the following:
‘‘SEC. 1625. CANCELLATION OF DEBT OWED TO THE IMF BY
ELIGIBLE POOR COUNTRIES.
‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—
‘‘(1) CANCELLATION
OF
DEBT.—In order to
achieve multilateral debt cancellation and promote
human and economic development and poverty alle-
viation in eligible poor countries the Congress urges
the President to commence immediate efforts, within
the Paris Club of Official Creditors, the Inter-
national Monetary Fund (IMF), and other appro-
ernment should seek input from appropriate
members of civil society.
‘‘(2) PROHIBITIONS ON CERTAIN NEW LENDING
PRACTICES.—In order to ensure lasting reduction of
long-term lending by the IMF, the Congress urges
the President to commence immediate efforts, within
the Paris Club of Official Creditors, the IMF, and
other appropriate multilateral development institu-
tions to accomplish the following:
‘‘(A) PROHIBITION OF NEW CONCESSIONAL
LOANS.—The IMF shall not issue any new
concessional loans, guarantees, insurance, or
credits to any country which receives cancella-
tion of debt under this section, within 3 years
after the date on which the country receives
such cancellation.
‘‘(B) PROHIBITION OF PRIVILEGE FOR IMF
CREDIT.—The IMF shall not require or allow
any country receiving new concessional loans to
privilege the IMF as a creditor over the United
States or private creditors.
‘‘(3) REPORT FROM THE COMPTROLLER GEN-
ERAL.—Within 90 days after the date of the enact-
ment of this section, the Comptroller General of the
United States shall prepare and submit to the Com-
mittee on Banking and Financial Services of the
House of Representatives and the Committee on
Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs of the Senate
a report on the availability of the ongoing oper-
ations, procedures, and accounts of the IMF for can-
celing the debt of eligible poor countries.
‘‘(4) REPORT
FROM
THE
PRESIDENT.—Not
later than December 31 of each year, the President
shall submit to the Committees on Banking and Fi-
nancial Services, and on International Relations of
the House of Representatives and the Committees
on Foreign Relations and on Banking, Housing, and
Urban Affairs of the Senate a report, which shall be
made available to the public, on the activities under-
taken under this section, and other progress made in
accomplishing the purposes of this section, for the
prior fiscal year. The report shall include a list of
the countries that have received debt cancellation, a
list of the countries whose request for such debt can-
cellation has been denied and the reasons therefore,
and a list of the countries whose requests for such
debt cancellation are under consideration.’’.
(b) PROMOTION
OF EQUITABLE BURDEN SHAR-
ING.—In order to promote equitable burden-sharing by bi-
lateral, multilateral, and private creditors, the Congress
urges the President to commence immediately efforts to
ensure that such creditors draw upon their own resources
to finance debt reduction to the extent possible without
diverting funds from other high priority poverty alleviation
programs.
SEC. 4. ACTIONS TO PROTECT ELIGIBLE POOR COUNTRIES
FROM HARMFUL IMF AND WORLD BANK
POLICIES.
Title XVI of the International Financial Institutions
Act (22 U.S.C. 262p–262p–7) is further amended by add-
ing at the end the following:
‘‘SEC. 1626. PROTECTION AGAINST HARMFUL IMF AND
WORLD BANK POLICIES.
‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—In order to protect against
harmful International Monetary Fund (IMF) and Inter-
national Bank for Reconstruction and Development
(World Bank) policies in eligible poor countries the Con-
gress urges the President to commence immediate efforts,
within the Paris Club of Official Creditors, as well as the
World Bank, the IMF, and other appropriate multilateral
development institutions to accomplish the following:
‘‘(1) The IMF and the World Bank shall not
impose, encourage, approve of, or endorse any gov-
ernment policy which has the intention or effect of
reducing access to basic social services, including
health, education, nutrition, clean water, and sanita-
tion.
‘‘(2) The IMF and the World Bank shall not
impose, encourage, approve of, or endorse any gov-
ernment policy which has the intention or effect of
undermining the ability of workers to exercise their
internationally recognized worker rights. For pur-
poses of this section, the term ‘internationally recog-
nized worker rights’ has the meaning given that
term in section 502(a)(4) of the Trade Act of 1974.
‘‘(3) The IMF and the World Bank shall not
impose, encourage, approve of, or endorse any gov-
ernment policy which has the intention or effect of
damaging local small-scale enterprises and farms.
‘‘(4) The IMF and the World Bank shall not
impose, encourage, approve of, or endorse any gov-
ernment policy which has the intention or effect of
degrading the environment.
‘‘(5) The IMF and the World Bank shall not
impose, encourage, approve of, or endorse any gov-
ernment policy which has the intention or effect of
undermining democracy, including free and fair elec-
tions; civilian control of military, law enforcement
and security forces; the rule of law, equality before
the law and respect for individual and minority
rights; and freedom of speech, publication, and asso-
ciation.
‘‘(b) REPORT TO THE CONGRESS.—Not later than
December 31 of each year, the President shall submit to
the Committees on Banking and Financial Services and
on International Relations of the House of Representa-
tives and the Committees on Foreign Relations and on
Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs of the Senate a re-
port, which shall be made available to the public, on the
activities undertaken under this section, and other
progress made in accomplishing the purposes of this sec-
tion, for the prior fiscal year.’’.
SEC. 5. PROHIBITION OF STRUCTURAL ADJUSTMENT PRO-
GRAMS.
(a) PROHIBITION
OF STRUCTURAL ADJUSTMENT
CONDITIONS.—In order to promote human and economic
development and poverty alleviation in eligible countries
the Congress urges the President to commence immediate
efforts, within the Paris Club of Official Creditors, as well
as the International Bank for Reconstruction and Devel-
opment (World Bank), the International Monetary Fund
(IMF), and other appropriate multilateral development in-
stitutions to accomplish the following: The provision of
debt cancellation to poor countries shall not be conditioned
on any country adopting or implementing any structural
adjustment program. In this section, the term ‘‘structural
adjustment program’’ means any structural adjustment
program of the Enhanced Structural Adjustment Facility
(ESAF) or its successors, any structural adjustment pro-
gram operated or overseen by the IMF or the World Bank,
or any other program of the IMF.
(b) REPORT TO THE CONGRESS.—Not later than De-
cember 31 of each year, the President shall submit to the
Committees on Banking and Financial Services and on
International Relations of the House of Representatives
and the Committees on Foreign Relations and on Bank-
ing, Housing, and Urban Affairs of the Senate a report,
which shall be made available to the public, on the activi-
ties undertaken under this section, and other progress
made in accomplishing the purposes of this section, for
the prior fiscal year.
SEC. 6. ELIGIBLE POOR COUNTRIES.
In this Act, the term ‘‘eligible poor countries’’ means
any poor country which has a functioning democratic gov-
ernment and which is among the entities identified by Ju-
bilee 2000 UK as needing significant debt cancellation, in-
cluding Angola, Benin, Bolivia, Burkina Faso, Burundi,
Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Democratic
Republic of Congo, Republic of Congo, Cote d’Ivoire,
Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Ghana, Guinea, Guniea-
Bissau, Guyana, Honduras, Kenya, Lao PDR, Liberia,
Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritania, Mozambique, Nica-
ragua, Niger, Rwanda, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal,
Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Vietnam, Yemen,
Zambia, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Gambia, Haiti, Jamaica,
Morocco, 
Nepal, 
Nigeria, 
Peru, 
Philippines, 
and
Zimbabwe.
SEC. 7. ADVISORY COMMISSION; INTERNATIONAL DEBT
CONFERENCE.
(a) ADVISORY COMMISSION.—
(1) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Secretary of the
Treasury shall establish an International Debt Advi-
sory Commission (in this section referred to as the
‘‘Commission’’).
(2) DUTIES.—The Commission shall—
(A) conduct a study of—
(i) the debts owed to the international
financial institutions (as defined in section
1701(c)(2) of the International Financial
Institutions Act), the servicing of which
prevents the governments of developing
countries from providing that their citizens
have access to basic education and health
care;
(ii) the debts owed to the inter-
national financial institutions as a result of
lending for projects or policies now ac-
knowledged by the international financial
institutions to be economic failures;
(iii) the ecological damage that has re-
sulted from lending to developing countries
by international financial institutions; and
(iv) excess mortality and morbidity in
developing countries since 1982 as a result
of the implementation of ‘‘structural ad-
justment’’ policies designed by the inter-
national financial institutions; and
(B) make recommendations concerning
how the debt crisis may be definitively resolved
and such crises be averted in the future, which
recommendations may include proposals to re-
move the international financial institutions
from their central role in managing inter-
national debt, and to institute mechanisms in
debtor and creditor countries to deter the accu-
mulation of unsustainable debt.
(3) MEMBERSHIP.—
(A) IN GENERAL.—The Commission shall
be composed of 12 members, as follows:
(i) 3 members appointed by the
Speaker of the House of Representatives.
(ii) 3 members appointed by the ma-
jority leader of the Senate.
(iii) 3 members appointed by the mi-
nority leader of the House of Representa-
tives.
(iv) 3 members appointed by the mi-
nority leader of the Senate.
(B) DEADLINE FOR APPOINTMENTS.—All
appointments to the Commission shall be made
not later than 45 days after the date of the en-
actment of this Act.
(C) TERM OF OFFICE.—Members of the
Commission shall be appointed for the life of
the Commission.
(D) VACANCIES.—Any vacancy in the
Commission shall be filled in the same manner
as the original appointment was made.
(E) NO PAY.—Members of the Commission
shall serve without pay.
(F) TRAVEL EXPENSES.—Members of the
Commission shall receive travel expenses, in-
cluding per diem in lieu of subsistence, in ac-
cordance with sections 5702 and 5703 of title
5, United States Code.
(G) CHAIRMAN.—The majority leader of
the Senate, after consultation with the Speaker
of the House of Representatives and the minor-
ity leaders of the House of Representatives and
the Senate, shall designate 1 member of the
Commission to serve as Chairman of the Com-
mission.
(4) STAFF.—
(A) IN GENERAL.—The Commission may
appoint and fix the pay of additional personnel
as the Commission considers appropriate.
(B) EXPERTS
AND
CONSULTANTS.—The
Commission may procure temporary and inter-
mittent services under section 3109(b) of title
5, United States Code.
(5) POWERS.—
(A) HEARINGS AND SESSIONS.—The Com-
mission may, for the purpose of carrying out
this subsection, hold hearings, sit and act at
times and places, take testimony, and receive
evidence as the Commission considers appro-
priate. The Commission may administer oaths
or affirmations to witnesses appearing before it.
(B) POWERS OF MEMBERS AND AGENTS.—
Any member or agent of the Commission may,
if authorized by the Commission, take any ac-
tion which the Commission is authorized to take
by this subsection.
(C) MAILS.—The Commission may use the
United States mails in the same manner and
under the same conditions as other departments
and agencies of the United States.
(D) OBTAINING OFFICIAL INFORMATION.—
The Commission may secure directly informa-
tion that the Commission considers necessary to
enable the Commission to carry out its respon-
sibilities under this Act. Upon request of the
Chairperson of the Commission, the head of
that department or agency shall furnish that in-
formation to the Commission.
(E) 
ADMINISTRATIVE
SUPPORT
SERV-
ICES.—Upon the request of the Commission,
the Administrator of General Services shall pro-
vide to the Commission, on a reimbursable
basis, the administrative support services nec-
essary for the Commission to carry out its re-
sponsibilities under this Act.