[Congressional Bills 108th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4793 Introduced in House (IH)]






108th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 4793

    To provide for the cancellation of debts owed to international 
   financial institutions by poor countries, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                              July 9, 2004

  Ms. Waters (for herself, Mr. Leach, Mr. Frank of Massachusetts, Mr. 
Bachus, Ms. Lee, and Mrs. Maloney) introduced the following bill; which 
          was referred to the Committee on Financial Services

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
    To provide for the cancellation of debts owed to international 
   financial institutions by poor countries, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Justice and Understanding By 
International Loan Elimination and Equity Act of 2004'' or the 
``JUBILEE Act of 2004''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    The Congress finds the following:
            (1) Many poor countries have been struggling under the 
        burden of international debts for many years.
            (2) Many poor countries have debts that are odious because 
        they were incurred by dictatorships that did not use the funds 
        in ways that benefitted the population of the country.
            (3) The international Jubilee coalitions have been working 
        to raise awareness of the needs of these impoverished countries 
        for full debt cancellation.
            (4) The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has imposed 
        onerous structural adjustment requirements on many poor 
        countries as a condition of past loans and of participation in 
        debt relief programs.
            (5) Justice requires that these countries receive full 
        cancellation of their debts.

SEC. 3. CANCELLATION OF DEBT OWED BY ELIGIBLE POOR 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 POOR COUNTRIES.

    ``(a) In General.--
            ``(1) Cancellation of debt.--In order to achieve 
        multilateral debt cancellation and promote human and economic 
        development and poverty alleviation in eligible poor countries, 
        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 Development (World Bank), and the other international 
        financial institutions (as defined in section 1701(c)(2)), to 
        accomplish the following:
                    ``(A) Each international financial institution 
                shall cancel all debts owed to the institution by 
                eligible poor countries. To the extent possible, each 
                institution shall finance the debt cancellation from 
                their ongoing operations, procedures, and accounts.
                    ``(B) Any waiting period before receiving debt 
                cancellation shall not exceed 1 month from the date of 
                an eligible poor country's application for debt 
                cancellation.
                    ``(C) The government of each eligible poor country 
                shall be encouraged to allocate at least 20 percent of 
                its national budget, including the savings from the 
                cancellation of debt, for the provision of basic health 
                care services, education services, and clean water 
                services to individuals in the country. In providing 
                such services, the government should seek input from a 
                broad cross-section of members of civil society.
            ``(2) Establishment of framework for creditor 
        transparency.--In order to ensure that creditor activity is 
        known and assessed by all stakeholders, 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 
        Development (World Bank), and the other international financial 
        institutions (as so defined), to ensure that each of such 
        institutions--
                    ``(A) continues to make efforts to promote greater 
                transparency regarding the activities of the 
                institution, including project design, project 
                monitoring and evaluation, project implementation, 
                resource allocation, and decisionmaking; and
                    ``(B) supports continued efforts to allow informed 
                participation and input by affected communities, 
                including translation of information on proposed 
                projects, provision of information through information 
                technology application, oral briefings, and outreach to 
                and dialogue with community organizations and 
                institutions in affected areas.
            ``(3) Availability on treasury department website of 
        remarks of united states executive directors at meetings of 
        international financial institutions' boards of directors.--The 
        Secretary of the Treasury shall make available on the website 
        of the Department of the Treasury the full record of the 
        remarks of the United States Executive Director at meetings of 
        the Board of Directors of the International Monetary Fund 
        (IMF), the International Bank for Reconstruction and 
        Development (World Bank), and the other international financial 
        institutions (as so defined), about cancellation or reduction 
        of debts owed to the institution involved, with redaction by 
        the Secretary of the Treasury of material deemed too sensitive 
        for public distribution, but showing the topic, amount of 
        material redacted, and reason for the redaction.
            ``(4) Report from the comptroller general.--Within 1 year 
        after the date of the enactment of this section, the 
        Comptroller General of the United States shall prepare and 
        submit to the Committee on 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 operations, procedures, and accounts of the 
        International Monetary Fund (IMF), the International Bank for 
        Reconstruction and Development (World Bank), and the other 
        international financial institutions (as so defined) for 
        canceling the debt of eligible poor countries.
            ``(5) Annual reports from the president.--Not later than 
        December 31 of each year, the President shall submit to the 
        Committees on Financial 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 undertaken 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 cancellation has been 
        denied and the reasons therefor, and a list of the countries 
        whose requests for such debt cancellation are under 
        consideration.
    ``(b) Promotion of Equitable Burden Sharing.--In order to promote 
equitable burden sharing by bilateral, multilateral, and private 
creditors, the Secretary of the Treasury shall commence immediate 
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.
    ``(c) Eligible Poor Country Defined.--In this section, the term 
`eligible poor country' means Angola, Bangladesh, Benin, Bolivia, 
Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cambodia, Cameroon, Central African 
Republic, Chad, Cote d'Ivoire, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, 
Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, 
Kenya, Lao PDR, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Morocco, 
Mozambique, Namibia, Nepal, Nicaragua, Niger, Nigeria, Peru, 
Philippines, Republic of Congo, Rwanda, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, 
Sierra Leone, South Africa, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Vietnam, Yemen, and 
Zambia, but not if--
            ``(1) the government of the country has an excessive level 
        of military expenditures;
            ``(2) the government of the country has repeatedly provided 
        support for acts of international terrorism, as determined by 
        the Secretary of State under section 6(j)(1) of the Export 
        Administration Act of 1979 (50 U.S.C. App. 2405(j)(1)), or 
        section 620A(a) of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 (22 
        U.S.C. 2371(a));
            ``(3) the government of the country is failing to cooperate 
        on international narcotics control matters;
            ``(4) the government of the country (including its military 
        or other security forces) engages in a consistent pattern of 
        gross violations of internationally recognized human rights; or
            ``(5) in the case of Haiti, the government of the country 
        has not been elected through free and fair elections.''.

SEC. 4. PROHIBITION OF STRUCTURAL ADJUSTMENT PROGRAMS.

    Title XVI of the International Financial Institutions Act (22 
U.S.C. 262p-262p-8) is further amended by adding at the end the 
following:

``SEC. 1627. PROHIBITION OF STRUCTURAL ADJUSTMENT PROGRAMS.

    ``(a) Prohibition of Structural Adjustment Conditions.--In order to 
promote human and economic development and poverty alleviation in 
eligible poor countries (as defined in section 1626(c)), the Secretary 
of the Treasury shall commence immediate efforts within the Paris Club 
of Official Creditors, as well as the International Monetary Fund 
(IMF), the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (World 
Bank), and the other international financial institutions (as defined 
in section 1701(c)(2)), to ensure that the provision of debt 
cancellation to the countries is not conditioned on any agreement by 
such a country to implement or comply with policies that deepen poverty 
or degrade the environment, including any policy that--
            ``(1) implements or extends user fees on primary education 
        or primary health care, including prevention and treatment 
        efforts for HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria, and infant, child, 
        and maternal well-being;
            ``(2) provides for increased cost recovery from poor people 
        to finance basic public services such as education, health 
        care, or sanitation;
            ``(3) would have the effect of increasing the cost to 
        consumers with incomes of less than $2 per day for access to 
        clean drinking water through--
                    ``(A) decreased public subsidy for water supply, 
                treatment, disposal, distribution, or management;
                    ``(B) reduced intrasectoral or intersectoral 
                subsidization of residential water consumers with 
                incomes of less than $2 per day;
                    ``(C) reduced government ability to regulate; or
                    ``(D) mandated privatization of water; or
            ``(4) undermines workers' ability to exercise effectively 
        their internationally recognized worker rights, as defined 
        under section 526(e) of the Foreign Operations, Export 
        Financing and Related Programs Appropriations Act, 1995 (22 
        U.S.C. 262p-4p).
    ``(b) Annual Reports to the Congress.--Not later than December 31 
of each year, the President shall submit to the Committees on Financial 
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 undertaken under this section, and other 
progress made in accomplishing the purposes of this section, for the 
prior fiscal year.''.
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