The current version of the supplemental spending bill contains about $100 billion for war in Iraq and Afghanistan and also about $100 billion for the IMF. A House vote in May passed with overwhelming Republican support and 51 Democrats voting against — but this did not include the IMF funding, which Republicans are opposing. This means the current supplemental could fail — if enough of the 51 Democrats hold their votes against the legislation.

The Wall Street Journal described the situation on Tuesday thus: “A White House bid to push a $108 billion contribution to the International Monetary Fund through Congress is in danger of unraveling because of an unlikely coalition of Republicans, liberal Democrats and anti-globalization activists.”

JAKE DILIBERTO
Martha De Hoyos
A former marine, Diliberto is a founding member of Vets for Rethinking Afghanistan. He said today: “Boots on the ground are doing more harm than good in Afghanistan. Funding the troop increase will make America less safe.”
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MARK WEISBROT, via Dan Beeton
Co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research, Weisbrot recently wrote the piece “The Next Big Taxpayer Bailout? IMF Could Get Hundreds of Billions for European Banks.”

He said today: “It looks like the main purpose of the $100 billion for the IMF is to bail out European banks. While some of the money will go to low- and middle-income countries, the conditions attached generally will worsen the economic downturns in these countries.”

See: “With IMF Money, the War Supplemental Could Fail in the House.”

For more information, contact at the Institute for Public Accuracy:
Sam Husseini, (202) 347-0020; or David Zupan, (541) 484-9167