Press Releases

President Biden signed Rep. French Hill’s (AR-02) bill, H.R. 6899, the Russia and Belarus SDR Exchange Prohibition Act of 2022, into law today. This law will prohibit the Treasury Secretary from exchanging dollars for International Monetary Fund (IMF) Special Drawing Right (SDR) assets held by Russia or Belarus. Further, the law requires the Treasury Secretary to push IMF member countries to deny these transactions as well.

“For over two years, I have warned my Democrat colleagues and administration officials about the flaws of the IMF’s SDR policy – they’re not targeted, there’s no accountability, and SDRs provide free money to countries that support genocide, terrorism, and illegally invade sovereign nations,” said Rep. Hill. “My bill – now a law – will close a loophole to get around Western sanctions by freezing Russia and Belarus out of future IMF financing and preventing them from using SDRs to fund their nefarious activities – including their illegal war in Ukraine.  Importantly, though, this law requires action on the part of the administration to affirmatively and actively push our IMF partner nations to do the same – a major change in U.S. policy on SDRs.  I thank Senators Scott and Manchin for their support in introducing a companion bill in the Senate and President Biden for signing this important bill into law.”

Further Background:

On September 21, 2022, H.R. 6899 passed the United States Senate by unanimous consent.

On May 11, 2022, the House of Representatives passed H.R. 6899 in a bipartisan vote of 417-02.

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.

On February 2, 2021, Rep. Hill wrote an op-ed for the Wall Street Journal first outlining his concerns with SDRs.