[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 157 (2011), Part 3]
[Senate]
[Page 3453]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                           ARGENTINA'S DEBTS

  Mr. WICKER. Mr. President, I rise today to discuss the treatment of 
American creditors by the Republic of Argentina. Almost 10 years ago, 
the Argentine government defaulted on over $81 billion in sovereign 
debt. Nearly $9 billion of this debt was held by the U.S. Government 
and American citizens. Following its default, Argentina made take-it-
or-leave-it settlement offers well below international norms for 
settling sovereign debt defaults.
  I am glad to report that recently Argentina has shown a willingness 
to negotiate in settling some of this debt. Argentina recently informed 
the Paris Club, a group of sovereign governments that includes the 
United States and represents 19 creditor countries, that it will pay 
its outstanding sovereign debt, including $360 million owed to the 
United States. Argentina's willingness to pay its debts to the Paris 
Club demonstrates its capacity to go further and compensate private 
American creditors, who have been trying to collect outstanding debt 
from Argentina for years. The fact that Argentina has agreed to pay its 
public debts to other sovereign nations is a welcomed first step. 
However, private U.S. creditors are still owed billions of dollars.
  As I mentioned before in this Chamber, these private creditors have 
won over 100 U.S. Federal court judgments against Argentina. Now that 
Argentina has shown that it can and will pay its debts through the 
Paris Club negotiations, the administration should work to get this 
issue resolved for the remaining American bondholders and taxpayers.
  I hope my colleagues will join me in urging the administration to 
protect the well-being of the American citizens impacted by Argentina's 
failure to pay its debts.

                          ____________________