IB 
Union Calendar No. 354 
110TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 2634 
[Report No. 110–575] 
To provide for greater responsibility in lending and expanded cancellation 
of debts owed to the United States and the international financial institu-
tions by low-income countries, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JUNE 7, 2007 
Ms. WATERS (for herself, Mr. BACHUS, Mrs. MALONEY of New York, Mr. 
GUTIERREZ, Mr. PAYNE, Ms. LEE, and Mr. CLEAVER) introduced the fol-
lowing bill; which was referred to the Committee on Financial Services 
APRIL 10, 2008 
Additional sponsors: Mr. BLUMENAUER, Mr. CLAY, Mr. HASTINGS of Florida, 
Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas, Mr. JEFFERSON, Mr. GRIJALVA, Mr. HIN-
CHEY, Ms. NORTON, Mr. WU, Ms. EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON of Texas, 
Mr. RUSH, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, Mr. MCNULTY, Mr. RANGEL, Ms. CAR-
SON, Mr. MORAN of Virginia, Mr. MCGOVERN, Ms. CORRINE BROWN of 
Florida, Mr. CONYERS, Mr. DAVIS of Alabama, Mr. STARK, Mrs. CAPPS, 
Mrs. CHRISTENSEN, Ms. DELAURO, Mr. FILNER, Ms. ZOE LOFGREN of 
California, Mr. SERRANO, Mr. LEWIS of Georgia, Ms. MOORE of Wis-
consin, Mr. WEXLER, Mr. AL GREEN of Texas, Mr. JACKSON of Illinois, 
Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California, Mr. BISHOP of Georgia, Mr. OBER-
STAR, Mr. BRADY of Pennsylvania, Ms. WOOLSEY, Mr. WATT, Mr. 
FATTAH, Mr. KUCINICH, Mr. DOYLE, Mr. MCDERMOTT, Mr. COHEN, Mr. 
OLVER, Mr. EDWARDS, Mr. HONDA, Ms. WATSON, Mr. WELCH of 
Vermont, Mr. MURPHY of Connecticut, Mrs. DAVIS of California, Mr. 
PASTOR, Mr. BERMAN, Mrs. JONES of Ohio, Ms. BALDWIN, Mr. 
DOGGETT, Mr. CROWLEY, Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ, Mr. VAN HOLLEN, 
Mr. DAVIS of Illinois, Ms. RICHARDSON, Mr. ELLISON, Mr. CARNAHAN, 
Mr. LOEBSACK, Mr. SNYDER, Mr. DEFAZIO, Mr. FARR, Mr. WALDEN of 
Oregon, Ms. HOOLEY, Ms. ESHOO, Mr. ENGEL, Mr. MEEK of Florida, 
Mr. DELAHUNT, Mr. BISHOP of New York, Mr. BRALEY of Iowa, Mr. 
FRANK of Massachusetts, Mr. GERLACH, Mr. LYNCH, Mr. THOMPSON of 
Mississippi, Mrs. LOWEY, Mr. WYNN, Mr. ANDREWS, Mr. BOUCHER, Mr. 
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MEEKS of New York, Mr. TOWNS, Ms. KILPATRICK, Mr. PRICE of North 
Carolina, Mr. CAPUANO, Ms. KAPTUR, Ms. VELA´ZQUEZ, Ms. CLARKE, 
Mr. SARBANES, Mr. WALZ of Minnesota, Mr. HODES, Mrs. BIGGERT, Mr. 
BACA, Mr. SHERMAN, Mr. ROTHMAN, and Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN 
APRIL 10, 2008 
Reported with an amendment, committed to the Committee of the Whole 
House on the State of the Union, and ordered to be printed 
[Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic] 
[For text of introduced bill, see copy of bill as introduced on June 7, 2007] 
A BILL 
To provide for greater responsibility in lending and expanded 
cancellation of debts owed to the United States and 
the international financial institutions by low-income 
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 ‘‘Jubilee Act for Respon-
sible Lending and Expanded Debt Cancellation of 2008’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
The Congress finds the following: 
(1) Many low-income countries have been strug-
gling under the burden of international debts for 
many years. 
(2) Since 1996, when the Heavily Indebted Poor 
Countries Initiative (HIPC) was created, more than 
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30 nations have seen some form of debt relief totaling 
approximately $80,000,000,000. 
(3) Congress has demonstrated its support for bi-
lateral and multilateral debt relief through the enact-
ment of comprehensive debt relief initiatives for heav-
ily indebted low-income countries in— 
(A) title V of H.R. 3425 of the 106th Con-
gress, as enacted into law by section 1000(a)(5) 
of the Act entitled ‘‘An Act making consolidated 
appropriations for the fiscal year ending Sep-
tember 30, 2000, and for other purposes’’, ap-
proved November 29, 1999 (Public Law 106–113; 
113 Stat. 1501–311) and the amendments made 
by such title; 
(B) title II of H.R. 5526 of the 106th Con-
gress, as enacted into law by section 101(a) of 
the Act entitled ‘‘An Act making appropriations 
for foreign operations, export financing, and re-
lated programs for the fiscal year ending Sep-
tember 30, 2001, and for other purposes’’, ap-
proved November 6, 2000 (Public Law 106–429; 
114 Stat. 1900A–5); and 
(C) title V of the United States Leadership 
Against HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria 
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Act of 2003 (Public Law 108–25; 117 Stat. 747) 
and the amendment made by such title. 
(4) In 2005, the United States and other G–8 
nations reached an agreement to provide cancellation 
of 100 percent of the debts owed by eligible poor na-
tions to Paris Club members, the IMF, the World 
Bank, and the African Development Bank. The Inter- 
American Development Bank reached an agreement 
in early 2007 to provide similar treatment. 
(5) The 2005 agreement led to the creation of the 
Multilateral Debt Relief Initiative (MDRI). As of 
April 2007, 22 nations have seen the majority of their 
debts to the IMF, World Bank, and African Develop-
ment Bank cancelled under the terms of the MDRI. 
In March 2007, the Inter-American Development 
Bank announced it would provide full debt cancella-
tion to 5 Latin American countries on MDRI terms. 
(6) Resources released by debt relief efforts to 
date are reaching the poor. Cameroon is using the 
$29,800,000 of savings it will gain from the MDRI in 
2006 for national poverty reduction priorities, includ-
ing infrastructure, social sector and governance re-
forms. Uganda is using its $57,900,000 savings in 
2006 on improving energy infrastructure to try to 
ease acute electricity shortages, as well as primary 
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education, malaria control, healthcare and water in-
frastructure (specifically targeting the poor and 
under-served villages). Zambia is using its savings of 
$23,800,000 under the MDRI in 2006 to increase 
spending on agricultural projects, such as smallholder 
irrigation and livestock disease control, as well as to 
eliminate fees for healthcare in rural areas. 
(7) While debt cancellation has a record of suc-
cess, there remains an unfinished agenda on inter-
national debt. There are a number of challenges to 
both the effective reduction of poverty and inequality 
and the achievement of broader debt cancellation. 
(8) 2007 is an important year to address the un-
finished agenda on international debt as the global 
Jubilee debt campaign has declared 2007 a ‘‘Sabbath 
year’’, 7 years after the historic Jubilee 2000 cam-
paign. 
(9) A critical issue which needs to be addressed 
on debt is the way that non-concessional lenders stand 
to gain financially from lending to poor countries 
that have benefited from debt relief without having 
paid for past debt relief or facing the prospect of pay-
ing for the future relief of unsustainable and irre-
sponsible new lending. In these cases, the gains of debt 
relief for poor debtor countries are at risk of being 
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eroded. This takes the form of new lending to coun-
tries that have received debt cancellation from coun-
tries including China. 
(10) It is also essential that all lenders and bor-
rowers accept co-responsibility and learn from past 
mistakes—as evidenced by the debt crisis itself—by 
making more productive investment choices and en-
gaging in more responsible lending and borrowing in 
the future. In October 2006, Norway became the first 
creditor to accept co-responsibility for past lending 
mistakes and cancelled the debt of 5 nations on the 
grounds that the loans reflected poor development pol-
icy. 
(11) A growing number of governments and 
intergovernmental bodies, including the United King-
dom, the European Commission, and Norway, are 
raising concerns about the harmful impacts of eco-
nomic policy conditionality. Many impoverished 
countries that have received debt cancellation under 
the HIPC and MDRI initiatives have done so at a 
high social cost, because they have had to implement 
economic policy conditions such as privatization of 
public utilities and other basic services, adhere to 
budget ceilings imposed by the IMF, and comply with 
other harmful requirements. Some of these policies 
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have had the effect of limiting fiscal space for produc-
tive investment and threatening growth and human 
development. Several countries currently eligible for 
debt cancellation under the HIPC or MDRI programs 
are facing extended delays in receiving cancellation 
because they are struggling to comply with such re-
quirements from the IMF and World Bank. 
(12) There is also an urgent need to look beyond 
the constraints of current debt relief initiatives to ad-
dress the need for expanded debt cancellation. The 
current initiatives allow countries to qualify for relief 
based on economic criteria rather than human needs. 
A January 2007 report by the United Nations 
Human Rights Council found that eligibility for debt 
cancellation should be expanded to cover all low-in-
come countries. 
(13) The Government of the United Kingdom has 
proposed that qualification for the MDRI be extended 
to the 67 nations which qualify for assistance exclu-
sively from the International Development Associa-
tion. To be eligible for cancellation, countries must 
meet requirements pertaining to public financial 
management, anti-corruption measures, and budget 
transparency. 
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(14) Since debt cancellation is an essential com-
ponent of the United States development assistance 
strategy and the United States has been able to lead 
the debt cancellation efforts of the international com-
munity by example, the United States should con-
tinue to work to improve and expand initiatives in 
this area. 
(15) The United States has been a leader in sup-
porting debt relief efforts to date and should continue 
to work to improve and expand initiatives in this 
area. 
SEC. 3. CANCELLATION OF DEBT OWED BY ELIGIBLE LOW- 
INCOME COUNTRIES. 
Title XVI of the International Financial Institutions 
Act (22 U.S.C. 262p—262p–8) is amended by adding at 
the end the following: 
‘‘SEC. 1626. CANCELLATION OF DEBT OWED BY ELIGIBLE 
LOW-INCOME COUNTRIES. 
‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of the Treasury 
shall commence immediate efforts, within the Paris Club 
of Official Creditors, the International Monetary Fund 
(IMF), the International Bank for Reconstruction and De-
velopment (World Bank), and the other international finan-
cial institutions (as defined in section 1701(c)(2)), to nego-
tiate an agreement to accomplish the following: 
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‘‘(1) Cancellation by each international financial 
institution of all debts owed to the institution by eli-
gible low-income countries, and, to the extent possible, 
financing the debt cancellation from the ongoing oper-
ations, procedures, and accounts of the institution. 
‘‘(2) Cancellation by the United States of all 
debts owed to it by eligible low-income countries. 
‘‘(3) Ensuring that any waiting period for the 
enhanced debt cancellation is not excessive. 
‘‘(4) Ensuring that the provision of debt can-
cellation to eligible low-income countries is not fol-
lowed by a reduction in the provision of any other de-
velopment assistance to the countries by international 
financial institutions and bilateral creditors. 
‘‘(5) Encouraging the government of each eligible 
low-income country to allocate at least 20 percent of 
its national budget towards poverty-alleviation pro-
grams such as the provision of basic health care serv-
ices, education services, and clean water services to all 
individuals in the country. 
This subsection shall not be interpreted to authorize the Sec-
retary of the Treasury to enter into an agreement to accom-
plish any of the foregoing without express congressional au-
thorization to do so. 
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‘‘(b) ESTABLISHMENT OF FRAMEWORK FOR CREDITOR 
TRANSPARENCY.—The Secretary of the Treasury shall com-
mence immediate efforts, within the Paris Club of Official 
Creditors, the International Monetary Fund, the World 
Bank, and the other international financial institutions (as 
so defined), to ensure that each of the institutions— 
‘‘(1) continues to make efforts to promote greater 
transparency regarding the activities of the institu-
tion, including credit, grant, guarantee, and technical 
assistance operations, following a policy of maximum 
disclosure; and 
‘‘(2) supports continued efforts to allow informed 
participation and input by affected communities, in-
cluding translation of information on proposed 
projects, provision of information (including draft 
documents) through information technology applica-
tion, oral briefings, and outreach to and dialogue 
with community organizations and institutions in af-
fected areas. 
‘‘(c) ESTABLISHMENT OF FRAMEWORK FOR RESPON-
SIBLE LENDING.—The Secretary of the Treasury shall com-
mence immediate efforts to— 
‘‘(1) develop and promote policies to ensure all 
creditors, with no distinction, will contribute to pre-
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