Press Releases

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The U.S. House of Representatives today passed Rep. French Hill’s (AR-02), H.R. 6899, the Russia and Belarus SDR Exchange Prohibition Act of 2022, in a bipartisan vote of 417-02 Rep. Hill’s legislation would prohibit the Treasury Secretary from exchanging dollars for International Monetary Fund (IMF) Special Drawing Right (SDR) assets held by Russia or Belarus and would require the Secretary of Treasury to push IMF member countries to deny these transactions as well.

 

“For over two years, I warned Treasury and the Biden Administration about the flaws of the IMF's SDR policy. They're not targeted, there is no accountability, and SDRs provide aid to countries that support genocide, terrorism, and now, illegally invade a sovereign nation. They did not heed those warnings, which is why we find ourselves here today - Russia alone holds over $25 billion of these IMF reserve assets, $17 billion of which the IMF gifted to Putin last year," said Rep. Hill. "Now, more than ever, it is imperative we don't allow these SDRs to be used to provide Russia and Belarus a loophole around Western sanctions to fund their illegal war in Ukraine. Passing this bill will assist in our efforts to exert maximum pressure on Russia and send a message to countries like China that they should not throw Vladimir Putin an SDR lifeline. I thank Senators Rick Scott and Joe Manchin for introducing the companion legislation in the Senate."

 

To watch Rep. Hill’s full remarks, click HERE or on the video below. 

SDRs from the IMF allow countries to lay claim to dollars, euros, and other major currencies to use with no strings attached. The amount an IMF country gets from an SDR allocation is largely based on a country’s position in the world economy, meaning most of the money goes to wealthy countries and rogue regimes, and not the countries that need it most.

 

Further Background:

 

On March 17, 2022, the House Financial Services Committee unanimously passed H.R. 6899 out of committee.

 

Rep. Hill introduced H.R. 6899 on March 2, 2022, as part of a package of bills House Financial Services Committee Republicans introduced to counter Russia.

 

On February 28, 2022, Rep. Hill sent a letter alongside 40 other members of the House and Senate to Treasury Secretary Yellen encouraging her to get other IMF member countries to not facilitate any exchange of Russia’s SDRs.

 

Rep. Hill also joined UK member of Parliament Rehman Chishti in an opinion piece featured in The Times Redbox urging the IMF to review its rules on allocations of SDRs.

 

Last year, Rep. Hill introduced H.R. 1568, the Special Drawing Rights Oversight Act. This bill limits the executive branch’s ability to bypass Congress to authorize SDR allocations by limiting the size and frequency of allocations unless Congress authorizes them by law. Under current law, The U.S. Treasury has broad authority to unilaterally approve an SDR allocation. Rep. Hill’s bill ensures a proper check on the executive branch and greater accountability.