To provide for consultation and reports to Congress regarding the International Monetary Fund.

SA 1191. Mr. LEAHY (for himself and Mr. Kerry) submitted an amendment intended to be proposed by him to the bill H.R. 2346, making supplemental appropriations for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2009, and for other purposes; as follows:

On page 102, line 9, strike “In” and everything thereafter through the end of line 14 on page 106, and insert in lieu thereof the following:

In order to carry out the purposes of a one-time decision of the Executive Directors of the International Monetary Fund (the Fund) to expand the resources of the New Arrangements to Borrow, established pursuant to the decision of January 27, 1997 referred to in paragraph (1) above, and to make other amendments to the New Arrangements to Borrow to achieve an expanded and more flexible New Arrangements to Borrow as contemplated by paragraph 17 of the G-20 Leaders' Statement of April 2, 2009 in London, the Secretary of the Treasury is authorized to instruct the United States Executive Director to consent to such amendments notwithstanding subsection (d) of this section, and to make loans, in an amount not to exceed the dollar equivalent of 75,000,000,000 Special Drawing Rights, in addition to any amounts previously authorized under this section and limited to such amounts as are provided in advance in appropriations Acts, except that prior to activation, the Secretary of the Treasury shall report to Congress on whether supplementary resources are needed to forestall or cope with an impairment of the international monetary system and whether the Fund has fully explored other means of funding, to the Fund under article VII, section 1(i), of the Articles of Agreement of the Fund: Provided, That prior to instructing the United States Executive Director to provide consent to such amendments, the Secretary of the Treasury shall consult with the Committee on Foreign Relations and the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs of the Senate and the Committee on Financial Services of the House of Representatives on the amendments to be made to the New Arrangements to Borrow, including guidelines and criteria governing the use of its resources; the countries that have made commitments to contribute to the New Arrangements to Borrow and the amount of such commitments; and the steps taken by the United States to expand the number of countries so the United States share of the expanded New Arrangements to Borrow is representative of its share as of the date of enactment of this act: Provided further, That any loan under the authority granted in this subsection shall be made with due regard to the present and prospective balance of payments and reserve position of the United States.”

and

(2) in subsection (b)

(A) by inserting “(1)” before “For the purpose of';

(B) by inserting “subsection (a)(1) of” after “pursuant to”; and

(C) by adding at the end the following:

“(2) For the purpose of making loans to the International Monetary Fund pursuant to subsection (a)(2) of this section, there is hereby authorized to be appropriated not to exceed the dollar equivalent of 75,000,000,000 Special Drawing Rights, in addition to any amounts previously authorized under this section, except that prior to activation the Secretary of the Treasury shall report to Congress on whether supplementary resources are needed to forestall or cope with an impairment of the international monetary system and whether the Fund has fully explored other means of funding, to remain available until expended to meet calls by the Fund. Any payments made to the United States by the Fund as a repayment on account of the principal of a loan made under this section shall continue to be available for loans to the Fund.”.

Sec.. 1302. The Bretton Woods Agreements Act (22 U.S.C. 286 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following:

“SEC. 64. ACCEPTANCE OF AMENDMENTS TO THE ARTICLES OF AGREEMENT OF THE FUND.

“The United States Governor of the Fund may agree to and accept the amendments to the Articles of Agreement of the Fund as proposed in the resolutions numbered 63-2 and 63-3 of the Board of Governors of the Fund which were approved by such Board on April 28, 2008 and May 5, 2008, respectively.

“SEC. 65. QUOTA INCREASE.

“(a) In General--The United States Governor of I the Fund may consent to an increase in the quota of the United States in the Fund equivalent to 4,973,100,000 Special Drawing Rights.

“(b) Subject to Appropriations.--The authority provided by subsection (a) shall be effective only to such extent or in such amounts as are provided in advance in appropriations Acts.”

“SEC. 66. APPROVAL TO SELL A LIMITED AMOUNT OF THE FUND'S GOLD.

“(a) The Secretary of the Treasury is authorized to instruct the United States Executive Director of the Fund to vote to approve the sale of up to 12,965,649 ounces of the Fund's gold acquired since the second Amendment to the Fund's Articles of Agreement, only if such sales are consistent with the guidelines agreed to by the Executive Board of the Fund described in the Report of the Managing Director to the International Monetary and Financial Committee on a New Income and Expenditure Framework for the International Monetary Fund (April 9, 2008) to prevent disruption to the world gold market: Provided, That at least 30 days prior to any such vote, the Secretary shall consult with the Committee on Foreign Relations and the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs of the Senate and the Committee on Financial Services of the House of Representatives regarding the use of proceeds from the sale of such gold: Provided further, That the Secretary of the Treasury shall seek to ensure that:

(1) the Fund will provide support to low-income countries that are eligible for the Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility or other low-income lending from the Fund by making available Fund resources of not less than $4 billion;

(2) such Fund resources referenced above will be used to leverage additional support by a significant multiple to provide loans with substantial concessionality and debt service payment relief and/or grants, as appropriate to a country's circumstances;

(3) support provided through forgiveness of interest on concessional loans will be provided for not less than two years; and

(4) the support provided to low-income countries occurs within six years, a substantial amount of which shall occur within the initial two years.

(b) In addition to agreeing to and accepting the amendments referred to in section 64 of this act relating to the use of proceeds from the sale of such gold, the United States Governor is authorized, consistent with subsection (a), to take such actions as may be necessary, including those referred to in section 5(e) of this act, to also use such proceeds for the purpose of assisting low-income countries.”

“SEC. 67. ACCEPTANCE OF AMENDMENT TO THE ARTICLES OF AGREEMENT OF THE FUND.

“The United States Governor of the Fund may agree to and accept the amendment to the Articles of Agreement of the Fund as proposed in the resolution numbered 54-4 of the Board of Governors of the Fund which was approved by such Board on October 22, 1997: Provided, That not more than one year after the acceptance of such amendments to the Fund's Articles of Agreement, the Secretary of the Treasury shall submit a report to the Committee on Foreign Relations and the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs of the Senate and the Committee on Financial Services of the House of Representatives analyzing Special Drawing Rights, to include a discussion of how those countries that significantly use or acquire Special Drawing Rights in accordance with Article XIX, Section 2(c), use or acquire them; the extent to which countries experiencing balance of payment difficulties exchange or use their Special Drawing Rights to acquire reserve currencies; and the manner in which those reserve currencies are acquired when utilizing Special Drawing Rights.”