US MOVES:WASHINGTON – Congressional Republicans are taking aim at any International Monetary Fund move to bail out European countries in their debt crisis, saying they do not want American funds involved.
The legislators are trying to snatch back a $100 billion line of credit which the United States approved for an IMF crisis fund, the New Arrangements to Borrow, in 2009 at the height of the global financial crisis.
The US is the IMF’s largest member country and its share of the $550 billion fund is about 18.7 per cent.
Republican representative Kay Granger said the matter was one of the unresolved issues in congressional negotiations between the Republican-majority house and Democratic-majority senate over fiscal 2012 spending.
Another house Republican, Cathy McMorris-Rodgers, has gathered 58 co-sponsors on her legislation to pull back the US line of credit. She also supports Ms Granger’s effort.
An early opponent of US involvement in rescuing indebted European countries, Ms McMorris-Rodgers complained that the Obama administration had not told Congress details of how much of the credit line approved two years ago has been used, or for what. She said she wanted transparency over how the money was used by the IMF.
“Congress should be involved in making this decision as to what the role of America will be in a potential European bailout,” she added.
Congress approved the IMF funding in 2009 after it was attached to a bill financing the Iraq and Afghan wars.
Secretary of state Hillary Clinton and defence secretary Robert Gates, along with national security adviser Jim Jones, wrote to congress saying the IMF needed the money to confront the global financial crisis. – (Reuters)