[Congressional Bills 117th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 67 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

<DOC>






117th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                 S. 67

To support efforts by international financial institutions to provide a 
            robust global response to the COVID-19 pandemic.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                            January 27, 2021

    Mr. Durbin (for himself, Mr. Sanders, Mr. Reed, Mr. Cardin, Mr. 
 Merkley, and Mr. Leahy) introduced the following bill; which was read 
        twice and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To support efforts by international financial institutions to provide a 
            robust global response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

    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 ``Support for Global Financial 
Institution Pandemic Response Act of 2021''.

SEC. 2. SUPPORT FOR A ROBUST GLOBAL RESPONSE TO THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC.

    (a) United States Policies at the International Financial 
Institutions.--
            (1) In general.--The Secretary of the Treasury shall 
        instruct the United States Executive Director of each 
        international financial institution (as defined in section 
        1701(c)(2) of the International Financial Institutions Act (22 
        U.S.C. 262r(c)(2)) to use the voice and vote of the United 
        States at that institution--
                    (A) to seek to ensure adequate fiscal space for 
                world economies in response to the global coronavirus 
                disease 2019 (commonly referred to as ``COVID-19'') 
                pandemic through--
                            (i) the suspension of all debt service 
                        payments to the institution; and
                            (ii) the relaxation of fiscal targets for 
                        any government operating a program supported by 
                        the institution, or seeking financing from the 
                        institution, in response to the pandemic;
                    (B) to oppose any loan, grant, document, or 
                strategy that would lead to a decrease in health care 
                spending or in any other spending that would impede the 
                ability of any country to prevent or contain the spread 
                of, or treat persons who are or may be infected with, 
                the SARS-CoV-2 virus; and
                    (C) to require approval of all Special Drawing 
                Rights allocation transfers from wealthier member 
                countries to countries that are emerging markets or 
                developing countries, based on confirmation of 
                implementable transparency mechanisms or protocols to 
                ensure the allocations are used for the public good and 
                in response the global pandemic.
            (2) Report required.--The Chairman of the National Advisory 
        Council on International Monetary and Financial Policies shall 
        include in the annual report required by section 1701 of the 
        International Financial Institutions Act (22 U.S.C. 262r) a 
        description of progress made toward advancing the policies 
        described in paragraph (1).
    (b) IMF Issuance of Special Drawing Rights.--
            (1) United states support for issuance.--The Secretary of 
        the Treasury shall instruct the United States Executive 
        Director of the International Monetary Fund to use the voice 
        and vote of the United States to support the issuance of a 
        special allocation of not less than 2,000,000,000,000 Special 
        Drawing Rights so that governments are able to access 
        additional resources to finance their responses to the global 
        COVID-19 pandemic.
            (2) Authorization to vote for allocation.--Notwithstanding 
        section 6(a) of the Special Drawing Rights Act (22 U.S.C. 
        286q(a)), the United States Governor of the International 
        Monetary Fund may vote to allocate up to 2,000,000,000,000 
        Special Drawing Rights under article XVIII of the Articles of 
        Agreement of the International Monetary Fund.
    (c) Termination.--Subsections (a) and (b) shall have no force or 
effect after the earlier of--
            (1) the date that is one year after the date of the 
        enactment of this Act; or
            (2) the date that is 30 days after the date on which the 
        Secretary of the Treasury, in consultation with the Secretary 
        of Health and Human Services and the heads of other relevant 
        Federal agencies, submits to the Committee on Foreign Relations 
        of the Senate and the Committee on Financial Services of the 
        House of Representatives a report stating that the SARS-CoV-2 
        virus is no longer a serious threat to public health in any 
        part of the world.
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