A bill to oppose the provision of assistance to the People's Republic of China by the multilateral development banks.

II 118TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 908 To oppose the provision of assistance to the People’s Republic of China by the multilateral development banks. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES MARCH 22, 2023 Mr. BARRASSO (for himself, Mr. GRASSLEY, Ms. LUMMIS, Mr. TILLIS, Mr. LEE, Mr. MORAN, Mr. SCOTT of Florida, Mr. HAGERTY, Mr. SCHMITT, Mr. LANKFORD, Mrs. BLACKBURN, Mr. HAWLEY, Mr. RUBIO, Mr. COT- TON, Mr. BRAUN, Mr. CRAMER, Mr. MARSHALL, Mr. CASSIDY, Mrs. CAP- ITO, Mr. MANCHIN, Mr. ROUNDS, and Mr. HOEVEN) introduced the fol- lowing bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on For- eign Relations A BILL To oppose the provision of assistance to the People’s Republic of China by the multilateral development banks. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. OPPOSITION TO PROVISION OF ASSISTANCE TO 3 PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC OF CHINA BY MULTI- 4 LATERAL DEVELOPMENT BANKS. 5 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress makes the following find- 6 ings: 7 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:54 Mar 31, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S908.IS S908 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •S 908 IS (1) The People’s Republic of China is the 1 world’s second largest economy and a major global 2 lender. 3 (2) In the third quarter of 2022, the foreign ex- 4 change reserves of the People’s Republic of China 5 totaled more than $3,000,000,000,000. 6 (3) The World Bank classifies the People’s Re- 7 public of China as a country with an upper-middle- 8 income economy. 9 (4) On February 25, 2021, President Xi 10 Jinping announced ‘‘complete victory’’ over extreme 11 poverty in the People’s Republic of China. 12 (5) The Government of the People’s Republic of 13 China utilizes state resources to create and promote 14 the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, the New 15 Development Bank, and the Belt and Road Initia- 16 tive. 17 (6) The People’s Republic of China is the 18 world’s largest official creditor. 19 (7) Through a multilateral development bank, 20 countries are eligible to borrow until they can man- 21 age long-term development and access to capital 22 markets without financial resources from the bank. 23 (8) The World Bank reviews the graduation of 24 a country from eligibility to borrow from the Inter- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:54 Mar 31, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S908.IS S908 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •S 908 IS national Bank for Reconstruction and Development 1 once the country reaches the graduation discussion 2 income, which is equivalent to the gross national in- 3 come. For fiscal year 2023, the graduation discus- 4 sion income is a gross national income per capita ex- 5 ceeding $7,455. 6 (9) Many of the other multilateral development 7 banks, such as the Asian Development Bank, use 8 the gross national income per capita benchmark 9 used by the International Bank for Reconstruction 10 and Development to trigger the graduation process. 11 (10) The People’s Republic of China exceeded 12 the graduation discussion income threshold in 2016. 13 (11) Since 2016, the International Bank for 14 Reconstruction and Development has approved 15 projects totaling $9,610,000,000 to the People’s Re- 16 public of China. 17 (12) Since 2016, the Asian Development Bank 18 has continued to approve loans and technical assist- 19 ance to the People’s Republic of China totaling more 20 than $10,600,000,000. The Bank has also approved 21 non-sovereign commitments in the People’s Republic 22 of China totaling more than $2,400,000,000 since 23 2016. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:54 Mar 31, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S908.IS S908 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •S 908 IS (13) The World Bank calculates the People’s 1 Republic of China’s 2019 gross national income per 2 capita as $10,390. 3 (b) STATEMENT OF POLICY.—It is the policy of the 4 United States to oppose any additional lending from the 5 multilateral development banks, including the Inter- 6 national Bank for Reconstruction and Development and 7 the Asian Development Bank, to the People’s Republic of 8 China as a result of the People’s Republic of China’s suc- 9 cessful graduation from the eligibility requirements for as- 10 sistance from those banks. 11 (c) OPPOSITION TO LENDING TO PEOPLE’S REPUB- 12 LIC OF CHINA.—The Secretary of the Treasury shall in- 13 struct the United States Executive Director at each multi- 14 lateral development bank to use the voice, vote, and influ- 15 ence of the United States— 16 (1) to oppose any loan or extension of financial 17 or technical assistance by the bank to the People’s 18 Republic of China; and 19 (2) to end lending and assistance to countries 20 that exceed the graduation discussion income of the 21 bank. 22 (d) REPORT REQUIRED.—Not later than one year 23 after the date of the enactment of this Act, and annually 24 thereafter, the Secretary of the Treasury shall submit to 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:54 Mar 31, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S908.IS S908 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •S 908 IS the appropriate congressional committees a report that in- 1 cludes— 2 (1) an assessment of the status of borrowing by 3 the People’s Republic of China from each multilat- 4 eral development bank; 5 (2) a description of voting power, shares, and 6 representation by the People’s Republic of China at 7 each such bank; 8 (3) a list of countries that have exceeded the 9 graduation discussion income at each such bank; 10 (4) a list of countries that have graduated from 11 eligibility for assistance from each such bank; and 12 (5) a full description of the efforts taken by the 13 United States to graduate countries from such eligi- 14 bility once they exceed the graduation discussion in- 15 come at each such bank. 16 (e) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 17 (1) APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMIT- 18 TEES.—The term ‘‘appropriate congressional com- 19 mittees’’ means— 20 (A) the Committee on Foreign Relations of 21 the Senate; and 22 (B) the Committee on Financial Services 23 and the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the 24 House of Representatives. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:54 Mar 31, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S908.IS S908 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 6 •S 908 IS (2) MULTILATERAL DEVELOPMENT BANKS.— 1 The term ‘‘multilateral development banks’’ has the 2 meaning given that term in section 1701(c) of the 3 International Financial Institutions Act (22 U.S.C. 4 262r(c)). 5 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:54 Mar 31, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S908.IS S908 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS