[Pen-l] Will Speaker Pelosi Stand Up to the IMF?

[Robert Naiman <naiman@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

It would be an exaggeration to say that Congress has a
once-in-a-lifetime opportunity this week to reform the policies of the
International Monetary Fund. If the future is like the past, if
Congress misses this opportunity, another one will come along - in
about 10 years or so.

This week, House and Senate leaders are meeting in a conference
committee to work out the differences between the House and Senate
versions of the supplemental appropriations bill. The Senate version
of the bill is likely to include $100 billion and new authorities for
the IMF, but the House version of the supplemental bill did not
include funds for the IMF. The Senate is debating amendments now as I
write. The conference committee will almost surely meet soon after
Senate passage; the stated goal is to pass the supplemental before the
Memorial Day recess.

Concrete, observable reforms of the IMF's policies in poor countries
should be part of any agreement: there should be no "blank check" for
the IMF. The IMF is imposing policies in developing countries we
wouldn't accept in the U.S. - when we have a recession, our government
spends money to help the economy recover, as we did in President
Obama's stimulus package. When developing countries have a recession,
the IMF demands budget cuts.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-naiman/will-speaker-pelosi-stand_b_205958.html

--
Robert Naiman
Just Foreign Policy
www.justforeignpolicy.org
naiman@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
_______________________________________________
pen-l mailing list
pen-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l