I
106TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. R. 2939
To provide the highly indebted poor countries with relief from debts owed
to the International Monetary Fund, to end United States participation
in and support for the Enhanced Structural Adjustment Facility of
the International Monetary Fund, and to require certain conditions to
be met before the International Monetary Fund may sell gold, and
for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
SEPTEMBER 23, 1999
Mr. SAXTON (for himself and Mr. KUCINICH) introduced the following bill;
which was referred to the Committee on Banking and Financial Services
A BILL
To provide the highly indebted poor countries with relief
from debts owed to the International Monetary Fund,
to end United States participation in and support for
the Enhanced Structural Adjustment Facility of the
International Monetary Fund, and to require certain con-
ditions to be met before the International Monetary
Fund may sell gold, 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 ‘‘Debt Relief and IMF
Reform Act of 1999’’.
SEC. 2. CONDITIONS OF APPROVING GOLD SALES BY THE
INTERNATIONAL MONETARY FUND.
Section 5 of the Bretton Woods Agreements Act (22
U.S.C. 286c) is amended by adding at the end the fol-
lowing: ‘‘No director appointed to represent the United
States at the Fund shall vote for any proposal to sell or
otherwise convert or liquidate gold, unless—
‘‘(1) the Congress has enacted a joint resolution
authorizing the approval of the proposal;
‘‘(2)(A) the Fund has canceled all debts owed
to the Fund by the countries eligible for debt relief
under the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC)
Initiative and Haiti; and
‘‘(B) the Secretary of the Treasury, after con-
sultation with the Comptroller General, dem-
onstrates to the Congress that there is no other fea-
sible way to finance the cancellation of such debts,
and, if the Comptroller General does not concur, ex-
plains to the Congress why any other method of fi-
nancing suggested by the Comptroller General is not
feasible;
‘‘(3) the most recent operational budget of the
Fund has been published, with any information that
could disrupt financial markets or affect adversely
the national security of any country redacted, and
the publicly available financial statements of the
Fund are reorganized and restated in a manner con-
sistent with the Fund’s code of good practices, and
with the principles of transparency and account-
ability;
‘‘(4) the Congress has enacted a joint resolution
certifying that the Fund is in full compliance with
the conditions imposed or required to be imposed by
title VI of the Foreign Operations, Export Financ-
ing, and Related Programs Appropriations Act,
1999 (as contained in section 101(d) of division A
of the Omnibus Consolidated and Emergency Sup-
plemental Appropriations Act, 1999 (Public Law
105–277));
‘‘(5) the proposal is—
‘‘(A) to sell any gold held by the Fund on
the effective date of the Second Amendment to
the Articles of Agreement of the Fund;
‘‘(B) only to the member countries that
were member countries on August 31, 1975,
and Papua New Guinea, and that agree to pur-
chase the gold;
‘‘(C) in proportion to the quotas of such
countries in the Fund on August 31, 1975;
‘‘(D) in exchange for the currencies of
such countries; and
‘‘(E) at a price of SDR 35 per fine ounce;
‘‘(6) the interest accruing on any investment of
the residual proceeds to the Fund of the sale will be
used for the provision of debt relief for such coun-
tries without conditions; and
‘‘(7) the official budget of the United States
Government displays the costs of United States par-
ticipation in the Fund, in accordance with the guide-
lines provided in the President’s Commission on
Budget Concepts.’’.
SEC. 3. END OF UNITED STATES PARTICIPATION IN AND
SUPPORT FOR THE ENHANCED STRUCTURAL
ADJUSTMENT 
FACILITY 
OF 
THE 
INTER-
NATIONAL MONETARY FUND.
(a) PROHIBITION ON FUTURE FUNDING.—No offi-
cer, employee, or agent of the United States may, directly
or indirectly, provide any thing of value to the Inter-
national Monetary Fund for the purpose of providing re-
sources to the Enhanced Structural Adjustment Facility
or other concessional lending facility of the International
Monetary Fund.
(b) VETO OF USE OF AVAILABLE FUNDS.—Section
5 of the Bretton Woods Agreements Act (22 U.S.C. 286c)
is further amended by adding at the end the following:
‘‘The director appointed to represent the United States
at the Fund shall use every effort to terminate the En-
hanced Structural Adjustment Facility of the Fund within
one year after the date of the enactment of this sentence.
No director appointed to represent the United States at
the Fund shall vote for any proposal to use resources of
the Enhanced Structural Adjustment Facility of the Fund
for any purpose, except for a proposal to abolish the Facil-
ity, use such resources for debt relief, and return any re-
sources remaining after such use to the General Resources
of the Fund.’’.
SEC. 4. NO APPROPRIATIONS FOR THE INTERNATIONAL
MONETARY 
FUND 
UNTIL 
THE 
INTER-
NATIONAL 
MONETARY 
FUND 
HAS 
CAN-
CELLED ALL DEBTS OWED TO THE FUND BY
THE HEAVILY INDEBTED POOR COUNTRIES
AND BY HAITI.
Section 5 of the Bretton Woods Agreements Act (22
U.S.C. 286c) is further amended by adding at the end the
following: ‘‘No amounts may be appropriated for payment
to the Fund until the Fund has cancelled all debts owed
to the Fund by the countries eligible for debt relief under