Support for Global Financial Institution Pandemic Response Act of 2021

II 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 Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Support for Global 4 Financial Institution Pandemic Response Act of 2021’’. 5 SEC. 2. SUPPORT FOR A ROBUST GLOBAL RESPONSE TO 6 THE COVID–19 PANDEMIC. 7 (a) UNITED STATES POLICIES AT THE INTER- 8 NATIONAL FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS.— 9 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:36 Feb 06, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S67.IS S67 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •S 67 IS (1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of the Treas- 1 ury shall instruct the United States Executive Direc- 2 tor of each international financial institution (as de- 3 fined in section 1701(c)(2) of the International Fi- 4 nancial Institutions Act (22 U.S.C. 262r(c)(2)) to 5 use the voice and vote of the United States at that 6 institution— 7 (A) to seek to ensure adequate fiscal space 8 for world economies in response to the global 9 coronavirus disease 2019 (commonly referred to 10 as ‘‘COVID–19’’) pandemic through— 11 (i) the suspension of all debt service 12 payments to the institution; and 13 (ii) the relaxation of fiscal targets for 14 any government operating a program sup- 15 ported by the institution, or seeking fi- 16 nancing from the institution, in response 17 to the pandemic; 18 (B) to oppose any loan, grant, document, 19 or strategy that would lead to a decrease in 20 health care spending or in any other spending 21 that would impede the ability of any country to 22 prevent or contain the spread of, or treat per- 23 sons who are or may be infected with, the 24 SARS–CoV–2 virus; and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:36 Feb 06, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S67.IS S67 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •S 67 IS (C) to require approval of all Special 1 Drawing Rights allocation transfers from 2 wealthier member countries to countries that 3 are emerging markets or developing countries, 4 based on confirmation of implementable trans- 5 parency mechanisms or protocols to ensure the 6 allocations are used for the public good and in 7 response the global pandemic. 8 (2) REPORT REQUIRED.—The Chairman of the 9 National Advisory Council on International Mone- 10 tary and Financial Policies shall include in the an- 11 nual report required by section 1701 of the Inter- 12 national Financial Institutions Act (22 U.S.C. 262r) 13 a description of progress made toward advancing the 14 policies described in paragraph (1). 15 (b) IMF ISSUANCE OF SPECIAL DRAWING RIGHTS.— 16 (1) UNITED STATES SUPPORT FOR ISSUANCE.— 17 The Secretary of the Treasury shall instruct the 18 United States Executive Director of the Inter- 19 national Monetary Fund to use the voice and vote of 20 the United States to support the issuance of a spe- 21 cial allocation of not less than 2,000,000,000,000 22 Special Drawing Rights so that governments are 23 able to access additional resources to finance their 24 responses to the global COVID–19 pandemic. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:36 Feb 06, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S67.IS S67 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •S 67 IS (2) AUTHORIZATION TO VOTE FOR ALLOCA- 1 TION.—Notwithstanding section 6(a) of the Special 2 Drawing Rights Act (22 U.S.C. 286q(a)), the 3 United States Governor of the International Mone- 4 tary Fund may vote to allocate up to 5 2,000,000,000,000 Special Drawing Rights under 6 article XVIII of the Articles of Agreement of the 7 International Monetary Fund. 8 (c) TERMINATION.—Subsections (a) and (b) shall 9 have no force or effect after the earlier of— 10 (1) the date that is one year after the date of 11 the enactment of this Act; or 12 (2) the date that is 30 days after the date on 13 which the Secretary of the Treasury, in consultation 14 with the Secretary of Health and Human Services 15 and the heads of other relevant Federal agencies, 16 submits to the Committee on Foreign Relations of 17 the Senate and the Committee on Financial Services 18 of the House of Representatives a report stating 19 that the SARS–CoV–2 virus is no longer a serious 20 threat to public health in any part of the world. 21 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:36 Feb 06, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S67.IS S67 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS