[Congressional Bills 106th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 479 Introduced in House (IH)]







106th CONGRESS
  2d Session
H. RES. 479

 Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives regarding global 
            sustainable development, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             April 13, 2000

 Mr. Sanders (for himself, Mr. Brown of Ohio, Mr. DeFazio, Mr. Evans, 
  Mr. Kucinich, Ms. Lee, Ms. McKinney, and Ms. Woolsey) submitted the 
     following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on 
 International Relations, and in addition to the Committees on Banking 
    and Financial Services, and Ways and Means, for a period to be 
subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration 
  of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee 
                               concerned

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
 Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives regarding global 
            sustainable development, and for other purposes.

Whereas a new global economy has emerged over the past 25 years;
Whereas the global economy has had a profound and at times destructive impact on 
        the majority of Americans and of people around the world;
Whereas most people have had little input in designing or governing the global 
        economy;
Whereas the current structure of the global economy therefore violates the 
        fundamental right of people to equality and self-determination as 
        proclaimed in the Declaration of Independence of the United States and 
        the Universal Declaration of Human Rights; and
Whereas uncontrolled globalization threatens the sustainability of local and 
        global environments: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This resolution may be cited as the ``Global Sustainable 
Development Resolution''.

SEC. 2. SENSE OF THE HOUSE WITH RESPECT TO CONTROL OF THE GLOBAL 
              ECONOMY.

    It is the sense of the House of Representatives that the United 
States and the people of the United States, and the people and 
governments of the other Nations of the world, should take actions to 
establish democratic control over the global economy.

SEC. 3. FINDINGS WITH RESPECT TO UNREGULATED ECONOMIC GLOBALIZATION.

    The House of Representatives makes the following findings of fact:
            (1) Effects of unregulated economic globalization.--
        Experience has proved that unregulated economic globalization 
        tends to generate the following deleterious consequences:
                    (A) Volatility.--Global financial deregulation has 
                reduced barriers to the international flow of capital. 
                More than $1,500,000,000,000 flows across international 
                borders every day in the foreign currency market alone, 
                a volume so large that a single nation cannot by 
                intervention create or restore monetary stability. The 
                result is a world economy marked by dangerous and 
                disruptive financial volatility.
                    (B) ``Race to the bottom''.--Globalization promotes 
                a destructive competition in which workers, 
                communities, and entire nations are forced to cut 
                labor, social, and environmental costs in order to 
                attract mobile capital. When many countries each tries 
                to undercut their competitors the result is a 
                disastrous ``race to the bottom''.
                    (C) Inadequate demand.--As each work force, 
                community, and nation seeks to become more competitive 
                by reducing wages and social and environmental 
                overheads, lower wages and reduced public spending 
                result in less buying power. This leads to stagnation, 
                recession, unemployment, and economic crisis on 
                national, regional, and global scales.
                    (D) Increased poverty.--The past quarter-century of 
                globalization has seen not a reduction but a vast 
                increase in poverty, as demonstrated by the following 
                examples:
                            (i) In the global economy, the number of 
                        unemployed persons is approaching 
                        1,000,000,000.
                            (ii) In the economy of the United States, 
                        real average wages were $9 per hour as of 1973 
                        and had decreased to $8 per hour as of 1998, 25 
                        years later. The median family income was 
                        $1,000 less in 1996 than it was in 1989. While 
                        this decrease in median family income was 
                        occurring, the workload of the typical married 
                        couple increased by 247 hours per year, or more 
                        than 6 weeks of additional work.
                    (E) Economic inequality.--Economic globalization 
                has contributed to an enormous increase in the 
                concentration of wealth and the growth of poverty both 
                within nations and worldwide, as demonstrated by the 
                following examples:
                            (i) The single richest person in the United 
                        States has wealth equal to the combined wealth 
                        of the people who comprise the least wealthy 40 
                        percent of the population of the United States.
                            (ii) The combined wealth of the 3 richest 
                        individuals in the world is greater than the 
                        combined gross domestic product of the 48 
                        poorest countries in the world, which represent 
                        one-quarter of the nations in the world.
                            (iii) The 225 richest individuals in the 
                        world, 60 of whom are residents of the United 
                        States with combined assets of approximately 
                        $311,000,000,000, have a combined wealth of 
                        more than $1,000,000,000,000, which is equal to 
                        the combined annual income of the people who 
                        comprise the least wealthy 47 percent of the 
                        world population.
                            (iv) The 447 richest individuals in the 
                        world have a combined wealth greater than the 
                        combined annual income of the people who 
                        comprise the least wealthy half of the world 
                        population.
                    (F) Discriminatory impacts.--The downward pressures 
                of globalization have focused most intensively on 
                groups subjected to discrimination that have the least 
                power to resist, including women, racial and ethnic 
                minorities, and indigenous peoples. Women have been the 
                primary victims of exploitation in export industries 
                and have suffered the brunt of cutbacks in public 
                services and public support for basic needs. Immigrants 
                and racial and ethnic minorities in many parts of the 
                world not only have been subjected to exploitation, but 
                also have been abused as scapegoats for the economic 
                troubles caused by corporate globalization. Indigenous 
                peoples have had their traditional ways of life 
                disrupted and their economic resources plundered by 
                global corporations and by governments doing the 
                bidding of global corporations.
                    (G) Degradation of democracy.--Globalization has 
                reduced the power of individuals and peoples to shape 
                their economic destinies through participation in 
                democratic processes, as demonstrated by the following 
                examples:
                            (i) Of the 100 largest economies in the 
                        world, 51 are corporations, not countries. 
                        Globalization has greatly increased the power 
                        of global corporations relative to local and 
                        national governments. The ability of 
                        governments to pursue development, full 
                        employment, and other national economic goals 
                        has been undermined by the increasing ability 
                        of corporations to relocate capital to other 
                        jurisdictions.
                            (ii) There are few international 
                        equivalents to the antitrust, consumer 
                        protection, and other laws that provide a 
                        degree of corporate accountability at the 
                        national level. As a result, corporations are 
                        able to dictate policy to governments, backed 
                        by the threat of relocation.
                            (iii) Governmental authority has been 
                        undermined by trade agreements, such as the 
                        North American Free Trade Agreement and the 
                        World Trade Organization, and by international 
                        financial institutions, such as the 
                        International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, 
                        which restrict the power of national and local 
                        governments to govern their own economies. 
                        These institutions themselves are sorely 
                        lacking in democratic control and 
                        accountability. They are all too often 
                        themselves complicit in the denial of human 
                        rights.
            (2) Common interest.--It is in the common interest of the 
        people of the United States and of the people of the world to 
        rectify these defects.

SEC. 4. SENSE OF THE HOUSE WITH RESPECT TO THE POLICIES OF THE UNITED 
              STATES REGARDING THE GLOBAL ECONOMY.

    It is the sense of the House of Representatives that the United 
States should adopt the following policies:
            (1) Global economic goals.--To reconstruct the global 
        economy to realize the following goals:
                    (A) Democracy at every level of government from the 
                local to the global.
                    (B) Human rights for all people.
                    (C) Environmental sustainability throughout the 
                world.
                    (D) Economic advancement for the most oppressed and 
                exploited parts of the population, including women, 
                immigrants, racial and ethnic minorities, and 
                indigenous peoples.
            (2) Democratic multilevel global economy.--To construct a 
        democratic multilevel global economy that strengthens the 
        capacity of governments to expand the capacity of their people 
        to meet economic needs and that gives due regard for the 
        following considerations:
                    (A) Human rights.--Under the United Nations Charter 
                on the Economic Rights and Duties of States, 
                governments have the obligation to protect the human 
                rights of their citizens. These include their labor, 
                social, environmental, economic, and cultural rights. 
                Governments have the right to pursue policies necessary 
                to fulfill these rights.
                    (B) International action.--In a global economy, 
                international coordination and international 
                institutions are at times necessary for governments to 
                effectively meet their obligations to their people and 
                to exercise the rights necessary to do so.
                    (C) Subsidiarity principle.--To the extent 
                feasible, economic decisionmaking should follow the 
                subsidiarity principle, under which decisionmaking is 
                exercised as close to the locus of the actual activity 
                being decided as possible.
            (3) Reduction of volatility.--To reduce the threat of 
        financial volatility and meltdown by using the following 
        measures:
                    (A) Capital controls.--Encouraging capital controls 
                to reduce the destabilizing impact of international 
                financial speculation (referred to as ``hot money'') 
                and to restore national monetary autonomy, including--
                            (i) national controls on capital inflow and 
                        outflow;
                            (ii) levies on currency exchange 
                        transactions to reduce the volume of short-term 
                        transactions, restore national monetary 
                        autonomy, and provide a resource pool for 
                        sustainable development and environmental 
                        protection; and
                            (iii) other forms of regulations on 
                        currency exchange rates and volumes.
                    (B) Currency stabilizations.--Forestalling 
                competitive devaluations and helping countries adjust 
                to changing conditions without drastic devaluations and 
                massive increases in exports.
                    (C) Appropriate economic demand.--Supporting 
                appropriate economic demand to reduce insufficient 
                global economic demand, which requires the concerted 
                efforts of the major economic powers to ensure that 
                global demand remains adequate to help all economies 
                grow. Efforts to increase demand should focus primarily 
                on increasing equity and sustainability by expanding 
                the resources devoted to the global poor and the global 
                environment.
                    (D) Discouraging high-risk speculation.--Making 
                speculators pay for their losses and eliminating 
                international bailouts, which have insulated large 
                banks and investors from the consequences of their 
                high-risk speculations and have encouraged more such 
                speculative ventures (referred to as ``moral hazard''). 
                The result of international bailouts has been even more 
                international volatility. When assistance is provided 
                for economies in trouble, the assistance should benefit 
                the people, not the international investors who lured 
                them into trouble in the first place.
            (4) Sustainable development.--To counter inequality, 
        poverty, and destructive competition (the ``race to the 
        bottom'') in the global economy by using the following 
        measures:
                    (A) Environmental measures.--Protecting the global 
                environment by encouraging development that enhances 
                the environment as a long-term resource.
                    (B) Economic measures.--Encouraging global, 
                national, and local policies that--
                            (i) ensure livable wages;
                            (ii) make credit available for small and 
                        medium-sized locally owned businesses and 
                        farms;
                            (iii) pursue progressive taxes that reduce 
                        the burden on the poor;
                            (iv) promote long-term investment rather 
                        than short-term investment that skims off 
                        speculative profits;
                            (v) encourage spending on primary health 
                        care, basic education, and other social 
                        services that improve the lives of people and 
                        provide the basis for long-term economic 
                        growth; and
                            (vi) empower people in local communities to 
                        use their resources to address their needs, in 
                        accordance with the principles that--
                                    (I) international agreements should 
                                not interfere with the right of 
                                communities to set minimum standards 
                                and to pursue economic self-reliance; 
                                and
                                    (II) national and international 
                                policy should channel resources to 
                                locally controlled development.
                    (C) Ending global debt slavery.--Pressuring 
                creditors to write off the debt of the poorest 
                countries and to assist other debtor countries in 
                making sustainable development rather than debt 
                repayment their first priority.
                    (D) Pursuing cooperation among rich and poor 
                countries to reduce world poverty.--Recognizing that 
                the existing gap between the global rich and poor is 
                unacceptable, and it is unconscionable to act as if the 
                existing gap can be a permanent feature of the global 
                economy.
                    (E) Grassroots organizations.--Encouraging people 
                at the grassroots to organize themselves in strong and 
                independent trade unions and other organizations to 
                assure their participation in economic decisions and in 
                an equitable distribution of economic benefits.
            (5) Democracy.--To encourage democracy by using the 
        following measures:
                    (A) Financial support.--Using economic policy to 
                support democracy and human  rights. While humanitarian 
aid should be available to all in need, financial support should be 
provided only in ways that encourage democratization and popular 
participation and should not be used to perpetuate regimes that deny 
human rights.
                    (B) Democracy in financial institutions.--
                Democratizing international financial institutions 
                including the International Monetary Fund and the World 
                Bank, and international groups including the G-7/8. It 
                is unacceptable to assume that the rich countries of 
                the world can monopolize decisionmaking regarding the 
                future of the global economy through dominant voting 
                privileges at the international financial institutions 
                and through creation of major policy decisions through 
                the G-7/8. Voting in international financial 
                institutions must move toward the standard of equal 
                representation for all the world's people. 
                International economic policymaking must move from the 
                ``rich men's club'' of the G-7/8 to a renewed North/
                South dialogue.
                    (C) Accountability in financial institutions.--
                Making international financial institutions transparent 
                and accountable. The procedures, decisions, and 
                programs of organizations including the World Bank, 
                International Monetary Fund, and the World Trade 
                Organization need to be open to public scrutiny.
                    (D) Participatory decisionmaking.--Letting those 
                affected by international economic policies participate 
                in formulating them. Instead of closed negotiations 
                with top government and corporate officials, decisions 
                about international economic agreements and loans 
                should require participation by labor unions, 
                environmental groups, women's organizations, 
                development organizations, and other major sectors of 
                civil society in each affected country.
                    (E) Establishing plans.--Encouraging governments at 
                every level to establish sustainable development plans 
                and to provide international support for the 
                implementation of such plans.
                    (F) Reducing ``crony capitalism''.--Ending ``crony 
                capitalism'' by reducing the domination of political 
                systems and media by economic oligarchs and by 
                increasing the capacity of people to organize at the 
                grassroots.

SEC. 5. SENSE OF THE HOUSE WITH RESPECT TO DEVELOPING DIALOG REGARDING 
              THE FUTURE OF THE GLOBAL ECONOMY.

    It is the sense of the House of Representatives that, to develop 
the broadest possible dialog by the people of the United States among 
themselves and with the other peoples of the world regarding the future 
of the global economy, the following actions should be carried out:
            (1) United states commission.--The United States should 
        establish a United States Commission on the Global Economy with 
        the following characteristics:
                    (A) Purpose.--The purpose of the commission should 
                be to initiate a dialog on the future of the global 
                economy.
                    (B) Duties.--The duties of the commission should 
                include the following duties:
                            (i) To hold hearings to investigate the 
                        effect of globalization on the workers, 
                        industry, and environment of the United States, 
                        which should--
                                    (I) include the full participation 
                                of civil society, including 
                                representatives from labor, women, 
                                minority, environmental, farm, and 
                                small business groups; and
                                    (II) have results that are widely 
                                distributed and are made available for 
                                public comment.
                            (ii) To hold ``town meetings'' in major 
                        cities in the United States to invite public 
                        participation in discussions.
                            (iii) To cooperate with similar commissions 
                        established by other countries and by the 
                        United Nations.
                            (iv) To report its findings and 
                        recommendations to the Congress and to the 
                        people of the United States.
            (2) United nations commission.--The United States should 
        initiate the establishment of a United Nations Commission on 
        the Global Economy with the following characteristics:
                    (A) Purpose.--The purpose of the commission should 
                be to initiate a global dialogue on the future of the 
                global economy.
                    (B) Accountability.--The Commission should function 
                under the auspices of the United Nations, as the 
                representative of the world's people.
                    (C) Duties.--The duties of the Commission should 
                include the following duties:
                            (i) To seek to revive the North/South 
                        dialogue and thereby to reorient the global 
                        economy toward greater economic justice.
                            (ii) To use and expand techniques developed 
                        over the past decade to include representatives 
                        of civil society and nongovernmental 
                        organizations in United Nations conferences, 
                        including funding and support for civil society 
                        participation.
                            (iii) To work with the United States 
                        Commission on the Global Economy and 
                        corresponding commissions of other nations to 
                        develop the broadest possible dialogue 
                        regarding the future of the global economy.
                            (iv) To establish a Global Economy Truth 
                        Commission that--
                                    (I) should have as its purpose to 
                                provide citizens of the world with 
                                information needed to monitor the 
                                results, impacts, and failures of 
                                economic institutions and policy at 
                                every level; and
                                    (II) should have the power to 
                                investigate, publicize, and refer to 
                                other authorities abuses in the use of 
international funds and in the exercise of power of international 
financial institutions.
                            (v) To initiate a series of Bretton Woods 
                        type international conferences, which--
                                    (I) should include representatives 
                                not only of countries, bankers, and 
                                industry, but an equal number of 
                                citizen organizations from every 
                                country, and should base negotiations 
                                on an open, inclusive, and democratic 
                                process; and
                                    (II) should make recommendations 
                                for and initiate negotiation of an 
                                international agreement for global 
                                sustainable development.

SEC. 6. SENSE OF THE HOUSE WITH RESPECT TO THE GLOBAL SUSTAINABLE 
              DEVELOPMENT FINANCIAL STRATEGY.

    It is the sense of the House of Representatives that the United 
States should enter into negotiations with other members of the United 
Nations to develop and implement a sustainable development strategy 
with the following characteristics:
            (1) In general.--The objective of the United States in the 
        Global Sustainable Development Agreement should be to 
        incorporate the principles, rules, and policies enunciated in 
        this Resolution and establish the institutions described in 
        this Resolution as modified by the global dialog under section 
        5.
            (2) Intent.--The intent should counter the aspects of the 
        global financial system that make it more difficult for 
        communities, regions, and Nations to pursue sustainable 
        development.
            (3) Purpose.--The strategy should have as its purpose to 
        restructure the international financial system to avoid global 
        recessions, protect the environment, ensure full employment, 
        reverse the polarization of wealth and poverty, and support the 
        efforts of polities at all levels to mobilize and coordinate 
        their economic resources.
            (4) Work with other nations.--The United States should work 
        with other Nations to--
                    (A) encourage economic policies based on domestic 
                economic growth and development, not domestic austerity 
                in the interest of export-led growth;
                    (B) encourage the G-7/8 countries to coordinate 
                their economic policies to stimulate domestic demand 
                and prevent global deflation;
                    (C) help countries adjust currency exchange rates 
                without competitive devaluations;
                    (D) develop means for assuring global liquidity, 
                such as an expansion of the system of special drawing 
                rights, in order to protect the global economy, and 
                especially the economies of poorer countries, from 
                liquidity squeezes;
                    (E) encourage a return to more stable exchange 
                rates in order to achieve the original purposes of the 
                Bretton Woods agreement;
                    (F) reduce the flows of destabilizing short-term 
                capital by the adoption of capital controls as 
                necessary;
                    (G) establish standards for and oversee the 
                regulation of banks and non-bank financial institutions 
                by national and international regulatory authorities;
                    (H) encourage the shift of financial resources from 
                speculation to sustainable development that is useful 
                and environmentally positive, such as community 
                development and targeted investment for small- and 
                medium-sized businesses and farmers; and
                    (I) pursue other measures to ensure that global 
                demand is adequate to provide full employment and a 
                rising standard of living.
            (5) Foreign currency transaction taxes.--The United States, 
        in cooperation with other nations, should establish levies on 
        all foreign currency transactions and should establish the 
        mechanisms for implementing such levies on such transactions. 
        The levies should have the following purposes:
                    (A) To reduce the volume of destabilizing short-
                term cross-border financial flows.
                    (B) To restore national monetary autonomy over 
                national currency.
                    (C) To provide pools of funds for investment in 
                long-term environmentally and socially sustainable 
                development in poor communities and countries.
            (6) Public international investment funds.--The United 
        States, in cooperation with other nations, should establish 1 
        or more public international investment funds. The funds should 
        have the following purposes:
                    (A) To meet human and environmental needs and 
                ensure adequate global demand by channeling funds into 
                sustainable long-term investment.
                    (B) To counter global economic cycles by expansion 
                and contraction of fund activities.
            (7) International institutions.--The United States, in 
        cooperation with other nations, should develop international 
        institutions to perform functions of monetary regulation that 
        are performed inadequately by national central banks, which may 
        include the following functions:
                    (A) Maintaining a system of internationally 
                coordinated minimum reserve requirements on the 
                consolidated global balance sheets of all financial 
                firms.
                    (B) Utilizing reserve requirements to counter 
                cyclical variations in global growth rates.
                    (C) Coordinating efforts to reduce fluctuations in 
                currency exchange rates through complementary national 
                fiscal and monetary policies and international exchange 
                rate agreements.
            (8) Debt cancellation.--The United States should take the 
        following actions with respect to debt cancellation:
                    (A) Initiatives.--The United States should work 
                with the G-7/8, the commercial banks, the International 
                Monetary Fund, the World Bank, regional development 
                banks, and other international financial institutions 
                to pursue debt cancellation initiatives that--
                            (i) provide for creditors to write off the 
                        debts of the most impoverished countries by the 
                        end of the year 2000; and
                            (ii) have as their final goal to allow 
                        countries to pursue sustainable domestic 
                        development.
                    (B) Cancellation.--The United States should cancel 
                all amounts owed to the United States by the most 
                impoverished countries.
                    (C) Advocacy.--The United States should instruct 
                its representatives in the International Monetary Fund, 
                the World Bank, and other international financial 
                institutions to advocate full debt cancellation for the 
                most impoverished countries and to participate in debt 
                relief. Sources for debt relief may include previous 
                IMF accounts, special drawing authority, enhanced 
                structural adjustment facility reserve account, lower 
                collateral requirements, and gold. The international 
                financial institutions should provide $1,000,000,000 of 
                their own resources to support substantial debt relief 
                for the highly indebted countries.
                    (D) No structural adjustment conditions.--The 
                United States should urge the principle that debt 
                cancellation should not depend on adherence to 
                structural adjustment or similar programs.
                    (E) Support investment.--The United States should 
                urge the principle that countries receiving debt relief 
                should support investment in human development by 
                allocating at least 20 percent of savings from such 
                relief to basic social services, with appropriate input 
                from civil society in developing basic service plans.
                    (F) Export earnings.--The United States should not 
                require any country to pay an amount exceeding 5 
                percent of its annual export earnings toward the 
                servicing of foreign loans.
                    (G) Military spending.--The United States should 
                urge the principle that funds received for debt relief 
                may not be used to increase military spending.
            (9) Insolvency mechanism.--The United States should 
        cooperate with other Nations to establish, for highly indebted 
        nations, an insolvency or ``bankruptcy'' mechanism with the 
        following characteristics:
                    (A) In general.--The mechanism should draw upon the 
                experience of other bankruptcy procedures for 
                governments, such as the municipal insolvency 
                provisions of chapter 9 of the United States bankruptcy 
                law.
                    (B) Arbitration panels.--The mechanisms should 
                provide for the creation of arbitration panels with the 
                following characteristics:
                            (i) Each arbitration panel should consist 
                        of arbiters nominated in equal numbers by 
                        creditors and debtors, with 1 additional 
                        arbiter elected by the nominated arbiters.
                            (ii) Each arbitration panel should 
                        establish the debtor's capacity to pay, after 
                        considering expenditures for social safety nets 
                        necessary to protect a minimum of human dignity 
                        of the poor and to protect the debtor's 
                        economic future.
                            (iii) Persons affected by the results of 
                        arbitration proceedings should have the right 
                        to be represented in the proceedings.
                    (C) Restructuring debts.--The mechanisms should 
                provide that when an arbitration panel determines a 
                country to be insolvent and its debts to be 
                unrepayable, the panel should restructure debts based 
                on the debtor's ability to pay. The restructuring 
                should apply to all creditors regardless of status as a 
                government, an international financial institutions, or 
                a private creditor.

SEC. 7. SENSE OF THE HOUSE WITH RESPECT TO REFORM OF INTERNATIONAL 
              FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS.

    It is the sense of the House of Representatives that the United 
States should impose the following conditions on any funding by the 
United States of the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, or 
any other international financial institution:
            (1) Labor conditions.--
                    (A) Worker rights.--Each international financial 
                institution should ensure, as a condition of approval 
                and renewal for every loan, conformance with 
                internationally recognized worker rights set forth in 
                the relevant conventions of the International Labor 
                Organization, including--
                            (i) the right to freedom of association;
                            (ii) the right to organize and bargain 
                        collectively;
                            (iii) the right to freedom from 
                        discrimination;
                            (iv) the prohibition on the use of any form 
                        of forced or compulsory labor;
                            (v) the right to strike; and
                            (vi) the right to certain minimum labor 
                        standards that take into account differences in 
                        development levels among Nations, including a 
                        minimum age for the employment of children, and 
                        acceptable conditions of work with respect to 
                        minimum wages, hours of work, and occupational 
                        safety and health.
                    (B) ILO representation.--Mission teams of 
                international financial institutions should include a 
                representative from the International Labor 
                Organization to take the lead in negotiating labor 
                issues.
                    (C) Local representation.--Local labor unions 
                should participate in the negotiations.
                    (D) Documentation.--The outcome of the negotiations 
                should be reflected in all international financial 
                institution documents.
            (2) Environmental conditions.--
                    (A) Systematic process.--Each international 
                financial institution should establish a systematic 
                process to review in advance, and take into account in 
                policy formation, projected impacts of each lending 
                agreement on ecological sustainability.
                    (B) Accounting.--Each international financial 
                institution should employ natural resource economists 
                with expertise in environmental accounting measures to 
                integrate such measures into technical assistance.
                    (C) Regulations.--Environmental regulations should 
                not be weakened under any program of any international 
                financial institution.
                    (D) Tax policies.--Loan programs of any 
                international financial institution should encourage 
                environmental tax policies to protect the environment 
                by correcting negative environmental market 
                externalities and other market failures.
                    (E) Lending.--All lending by any international 
                financial institution should aim to strengthen 
                environmental laws and increase the borrowing 
                government's capacity for environmental management and 
                enforcement. Lending must also incorporate the goals of 
                shifting the portfolio and operations toward 
                environmentally sustainable investments.
                    (F) Consistency.--No project or policy of any 
                international financial institution should run contrary 
                to the purpose or policy of any multilateral 
                environmental agreement.
                    (G) World bank actions.--The World Bank should take 
                the following actions:
                            (i) Invest 20 percent of its total energy 
                        portfolio in alternative or renewable energy, 
                        demand-side management and energy efficiency 
                        programs in 2000, with the share of such 
                        programs in the total energy portfolio 
                        increasing 10 percent per year thereafter to a 
                        permanent total to be established.
                            (ii) Reduce carbon emissions on its entire 
                        portfolio by 10 percent per year to a permanent 
                        total to be established.
                            (iii) Develop and implement an action plan 
                        for meeting the energy needs of the world's 
                        2,000,000,000 rural poor.
                            (iv) Shift its transportation portfolio 
                        from road and highway construction to traffic 
                        demand management, road safety, rail, public 
                        transportation, and projects that benefit 
                        nonmotorized transport users, especially in the 
                        poorest segments of society.
                            (v) Expand its investments in sustainable 
                        agriculture projects that emphasize farmer 
                        participation, ecological education, and 
                        training to reduce use of pesticides and other 
                        chemical inputs.
                            (vi) Assist governments in developing 
                        integrated policy frameworks to support 
                        sustainable agriculture and local and national 
                        food security.
                            (vii) Establish forest protection, 
                        conservation, and reforestation as the priority 
                        objective for forest sector loans.
                            (viii) Fund projects that examine 
                        alternatives to wood and better efficiency in 
                        wood use.
                            (ix) Increase investments for demand-side 
                        management and water efficiency projects.
                    (H) World bank exclusions.--The World Bank should 
                exclude from funding the following projects:
                            (i) Infrastructure or extractive projects 
                        in frontier or primary tropical, temperate, or 
                        boreal forests.
                            (ii) Logging or other forest projects 
                        unless certified by an accredited international 
                        certification body such as the Forest 
                        Stewardship Council.
                            (iii) Projects in or impacting areas listed 
                        on the United Nations list of national parks 
                        and protected areas, or nature reserves/
                        wilderness areas, or national parks, or 
                        national monuments or proposed nature sites.
                            (iv) Projects that involuntarily resettle 
                        more than 500 people.
                            (v) Large dam projects that do not 
                        incorporate the recommendations of the 
                        forthcoming final report of the World 
                        Commission on Dams.
                            (vi) Projects involving the manufacture of 
                        ozone-depleting substances or the use of 
                        persistent organic pollutants or hazardous 
                        pesticides.
                    (I) IMF actions.--The articles of agreement of the 
                International Monetary Fund should be amended to 
                reflect adherence to and enforcement of environmental 
                sustainability, including the following elements:
                            (i) Establishing a system of environmental 
                        reviews.
                            (ii) Preparing environmental impact 
                        statements for each lending agreement.
                            (iii) Requiring that borrowing countries, 
                        at a minimum, maintain and enforce existing 
                        environmental regulations.
                            (iv) Requiring that environmental spending 
                        as a percentage of gross domestic product not 
                        decrease under any program.
            (3) Social conditions.--
                    (A) Availability of credit.--Credit policies should 
                not decrease the availability of credit for small- and 
                medium-sized locally owned businesses and farms.
                    (B) Basic social services.--An economic reform 
                program by an international financial institution 
                should not result in decreased real per capita public 
                spending on the part of the borrower government in the 
                areas of primary health care, basic education, and 
                other basic social services.
                    (C) No user fees.--An international financial 
                institution should not advocate user fees for basic 
                health and education services in any loan program.
                    (D) Review of impacts.--Each international 
                financial institution should establish a systematic 
                process to review in advance, and to take into account 
                in policy formation, projected impacts of each lending 
                agreement on public health and poverty, as well as the 
                impact of such policies on vulnerable groups such as 
                women and children.
            (4) Democracy and human rights conditions.--
                    (A) Independent monitoring program.--An independent 
                monitoring program should be established to identify 
                violations of human rights by international financial 
                institutions and should have the power to order such 
                institutions to immediately cease and desist from such 
                violations.
                    (B) Promotion of democracy and human rights.--All 
                programs and policies of international financial 
                institutions should promote the growth and maintenance 
                of democracy and human rights in countries that receive 
                funds from such institutions. All such policies should 
                be developed in consultation with civil society. 
                Countries that engage in war crimes, such as genocide, 
                should not receive such funds, except for programs 
                meeting the strictest conditions for humanitarian aid.
            (5) IFI governance.--
                    (A) Open books.--Each international financial 
                institution should open all past books and records for 
                a complete investigation and audit by the Global 
                Economy Truth Commission.
                    (B) Public release.--Each international financial 
                institution should release publicly all evaluation and 
                audit documents, interim committee and development 
                committee documents, staff country reports, and any 
                other documents and reports serving similar functions. 
                Such public release should be a regular ongoing 
                procedure of the institution.
                    (C) Disclosure.--Each international financial 
                institution should adopt public information disclosure 
                policies that are based on the presumption of 
                disclosure of information subject only to narrow and 
                limited exceptions. Information should be disclosed 
                early enough for potentially affected persons to know 
                of projects in time to effectively oppose or 
                participate in the design process. Denials of requests 
                for information should be subject to impartial review.
                    (D) Articles of agreement.--The articles of 
                agreement of each international financial institution 
                should be amended to provide for more democratic 
                representation of the world's peoples in proportion to 
                their numbers in its  governing bodies, drawing upon 
such governance models as the Global Environmental Facility.
            (6) Participation.--
                    (A) Systematic integration.--Public participation 
                by government ministries, labor unions, environmental 
                groups, women's organizations, development 
                organizations, and other major sectors of civil society 
                should be integrated systematically in all policy and 
                program negotiations of each international financial 
                institution with each borrowing country.
                    (B) Documentation.--The decisions reached through 
                the dialogue between the international financial 
                institutions and the public should be reflected in the 
                final texts of consultations, staff concluding 
                analyses, and country reports.
                    (C) Accountability.--Each international financial 
                institution should implement independent, impartial, 
                and citizen-driven accountability mechanisms to ensure 
                that persons affected by the institution's projects or 
                policies have a means of holding the institution 
                accountable for following its own policies and 
                procedures. These mechanisms and procedures should be 
                no less stringent than those established for the World 
                Bank Inspection Panel.
            (7) IMF missions.--
                    (A) Termination of IMF ``mission creep''.--The 
                International Monetary Fund should, within 2 years 
                after the date of passage of this resolution, wind down 
                and terminate all programs and activities it has 
                created or expanded since 1971 (referred to as 
                ``mission creep''), including the following programs 
                and activities:
                            (i) Structural Adjustment Facility.
                            (ii) Enhanced Structural Adjustment 
                        Facility.
                            (iii) Structural Adjustment Programs.
                            (iv) Imposition of so-called ``good 
                        governance'' policies.
                            (v) Loans for purposes other than the 
                        original mission of the International Monetary 
                        Fund, to address short-term external trade 
                        imbalances.
                            (vi) Bailouts of banks and private lenders.
                            (vii) Advice, prescriptions, and mandates 
                        on national economic policies.
                    (B) IMF mandate.--The International Monetary Fund 
                should cease to condition lending on the adoption of 
                economic policies and measures that are inconsistent 
                with the original mandate of the Fund as expressed in 
                its articles of agreement, which is a mandate ``to 
                contribute . . . to the promotion and maintenance of 
                high levels of employment and real income and to the 
                development of the productive resources'' of its 
                members.
                    (C) No new powers.--The International Monetary Fund 
                should abandon efforts to amend its articles of 
                agreement to give itself new powers relative to 
                liberalization of the capital accounts of its member 
                countries (referred to as ``backdoor MAI'').

SEC. 8. SENSE OF THE HOUSE WITH RESPECT TO CORPORATE ACCOUNTABILITY.

    It is the sense of the House of Representatives that, to help 
establish public control and citizen sovereignty over global 
corporations and reduce the ability of global corporations to evade 
local and national law, the following measures should be implemented:
            (1) Establishment of code of conduct.--The United States 
        should enter into negotiations with other countries to 
        establish a binding Code of Conduct for Transnational 
        Corporations. The code should impose on each corporation that 
        operates in more than 1 country the following requirements:
                    (A) Emissions disclosures.--The corporation should 
                disclose land, water, and air emissions of toxic 
                substances for each facility and disclose accidental 
                discharges of toxic substances. The list of toxic 
                substances for which disclosure is required should 
                include, at a minimum, substances covered by the toxic 
                release inventory in the United States.
                    (B) Facilities disclosures.--The corporation should 
                disclose the names and addresses of all fully or 
                partially owned facilities and all contractors and 
                subcontractors.
                    (C) Hazardous materials disclosures.--The 
                corporation should disclose hazardous materials 
                imported across national borders.
                    (D) Worker rights.--The corporation should abide by 
                all internationally recognized worker rights as defined 
                in the Trade Act of 1974 and all International Labor 
                Organization conventions.
                    (E) Environmental standards.--The corporation 
                should adhere to standards no lower than the World Bank 
                standards on pollutant discharge and all other 
                environmental performance measures.
                    (F) Termination of operations.--The corporation 
                should give advance notification and severance pay to 
                workers when operations are terminated.
                    (G) Unions.--The corporation should sign neutrality 
                agreements protecting union organizing efforts.
                    (H) Financial disclosures.--The corporation should 
                disclose financial information including--
                            (i) local profits and losses;
                            (ii) ownership;
                            (iii) environmental liabilities; and
                            (iv) information on policies of the 
                        corporation that affect stakeholders other than 
                        shareholders, such as employment practices, 
                        worker health, tax payments, and receipt of 
                        government subsidies.
                    (I) Investment.--The corporation should report its 
                investment intentions.
                    (J) Education and job training.--The corporation 
                should offer employees education and job training.
                    (K) Social and environmental standards.--The 
                corporation should adhere to social and environmental 
                standards that are, at minimum, no less than the social 
                and environmental standards that are required of the 
                corporation in its home country.
            (2) Enforcement of code of conduct.--There should be 
        established a mechanism of adjudication and sanctions to 
        enforce the code of conduct. The enforcement mechanism should 
        allow both governments and citizens to initiate complaints of 
        noncompliance by global corporations and should operate in a 
        transparent manner.
            (3) No reprisals.--Governments should not be subject to 
        trade or other reprisals for efforts to enforce the code of 
        conduct.
            (4) Standards pending implementation.--Pending the 
        implementation of the code of conduct, corporations based in 
        the United States should immediately follow, in their overseas 
        operations, the standards of the United States or the host 
        country, whichever is stronger, with respect to the following 
        matters:
                    (A) Toxic substance disclosures.--Disclosure of the 
                use, emission, and accidental discharge of toxic 
                substances.
                    (B) Facilities disclosures.--Disclosure of the 
                names and addresses of fully or partially owned 
                facilities and of contractors and subcontractors.
                    (C) Labor rights.--Core internationally recognized 
                labor rights.
            (5) U.S. laws.--The laws of the United States should be 
        amended such that corporations incorporated or operating in the 
        United States are held liable for harms caused abroad and that 
        persons aggrieved by such harms can pursue actions for relief 
        in the courts of the United States.

SEC. 9. SENSE OF THE HOUSE WITH RESPECT TO REFORM OF INTERNATIONAL 
              TRADE AGREEMENTS.

    It is the sense of the House of Representatives that, within 6 
months of the passage of this resolution, the President should begin 
the process of renegotiating all agreements regulating international 
trade, including the World Trade Organization, the North American Free 
Trade Agreement, and bilateral investment treaties, in accordance with 
the following policies:
            (1) Objectives.--The renegotiated agreements should achieve 
        the following objectives:
                    (A) Reorientation.--To reorient trade and 
                investment to be means to carrying out just and 
                sustainable development rather than ends to be 
                maximized for their own sake.
                    (B) Procedures.--To specify in each agreement 
                objectives and time frames for achieving just and 
                sustainable development with procedures for evaluation 
                and corrective measures.
                    (C) Rights and protections.--To remove labor and 
                environmental rights and conditions and social 
                protections as factors of competition, such as by 
                international agreements to avoid competitive cuts in 
                the social safety nets.
                    (D) True costs.--To incorporate in market prices 
                the true long-term costs of industrial production, 
                including the costs of resource depletion, toxic waste 
                production, total waste, and disposal or recycling of 
                final product.
            (2) Specific provisions.--In renegotiating the agreements, 
        the United States should pursue the incorporation of the 
        following specific provisions:
                    (A) International conventions.--Enforceable 
                provisions that require the contracting parties to 
                recognize and enforce the principal conventions of the 
                United Nations and the International Labor Organization 
                with regard to the environment, labor, 
                antidiscrimination, and human rights.
                    (B) Minimum standards.--Guaranteed minimum 
                standards for dignified work, healthy communities, and 
                a clean environment.
                    (C) Heightened standards.--The right of local and 
                national governments to set standards above the 
                internationally guaranteed minimums.
                    (D) Local objectives.--The right of nations and 
                localities to plan for local economic development 
                objectives such as raising employment levels, enhancing 
                employment opportunities for targeted populations, 
                raising wage levels in specific industries, dignified 
                work, and healthy communities.
                    (E) Market access.--Preferential market access for 
                less developed countries as a means to accelerate 
                development and counter global inequality.
                    (F) Stabilization.--Commodity price, production, 
                and market stabilization as a means to encourage 
                stability and development in poorer countries.
                    (G) Access to technology.--Rapid and inexpensive 
                access to all forms of technical knowledge to aid 
                sustainable development.
                    (H) Ownership.--Protection of the right of 
                countries to take legal measures that require public or 
                state ownership in some sectors, exclusive national 
                ownership in some sectors, and national participation 
                in the ownership of some sectors.
                    (I) Performance requirements.--Protection of the 
                right of countries to make performance requirements 
                designed to achieve local, regional, and national 
                economic objectives, such as requirements for local 
                inputs and local hiring preferences.
                    (J) Antispeculative provisions.--Protection of the 
                right of countries to make antispeculative provisions, 
                such as requirements that investments remain in place 
                for a minimum period.
                    (K) Conservation.--The requirement, for purposes of 
                ecological conservation, that local permission be 
                obtained for the exploitation of natural resources.
                    (L) Disclosure.--Full public disclosure of all 
                trade negotiations.
                    (M) Funding.--Funding mechanisms that levy 
                surcharges on increases in trade flows to pay for 
                environmental consequences of trade, such as border 
                pollution and increased transport, and social 
                consequences of trade, such as loss of jobs and tax 
                base.
            (3) Report.--Within 1 year after the passage of this 
        resolution and annually thereafter, the Secretary of the 
        Treasury should submit a report to the Congress that describes 
        the progress made in implementing this section with respect to 
        each agreement subject to this section.
            (4) Satisfaction of congress.--For each agreement subject 
        to this section, the United States should withdraw from the 
        agreement in accordance with the withdrawal provisions 
        contained in the agreement unless, within 6 months after the 
        submission of any report under paragraph (3) with respect to 
        the agreement, the House of Representatives and the Senate do 
        not each pass a resolution containing an expression of 
        satisfaction with the progress made in implementing this 
        section with respect to the agreement.
            (5) Trade agreement negotiating authority.--The Congress 
        should terminate all existing grants of trade agreement 
        negotiating authority. The United States should immediately 
        cease ongoing negotiations of new trade and investment 
        agreements until such time as the Congress passes new 
        negotiating authority and objectives.
                                 <all>