{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://beatty.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/reps-beatty-and-garcia-lead-call-for-imf-surcharge-reform", "Reps. Beatty and Garcia Lead Call for IMF Surcharge Reform", "2024-10-03", "2024", "2024-10", "Democrat", "House", "OH", "Joyce Beatty", "B001281", "beatty.house.gov", "beatty", "https://beatty.house.gov/media-center/press-releases", "scraper", "Washington, D.C. \u2014 Reps. Joyce Beatty (OH-03), Ranking Member of the House Financial Services Subcommittee on National Security, Illicit Finance, and International Financial Institutions, and Jes\u00fas \u201cChuy\u201d Garc\u00eda (IL-04) led Members of Congress in a letter urging Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen to use the United States\u2019 voice and vote at the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to push for the elimination of harmful IMF surcharges that burden debt-stricken countries.\n\nSurcharges are extra fees imposed by the IMF on top of regular interest and service charges when a country\u2019s debt exceeds a certain IMF threshold. These fees significantly increase the cost of borrowing, can undermine debt reduction efforts, and may divert public resources from critical areas like health, education, and climate adaptation. Later this month, the IMF Board of Governors will meet to vote on a series of reforms, including changes to the surcharge policy.\n\nThe Members wrote:\n\n\u201cThe IMF has not offered evidence that surcharges are effective in their goal of disincentivizing reliance on the Fund. In fact, surcharges significantly increase countries\u2019 debt burdens, and the Fund\u2019s own analyses demonstrate that the likelihood of timely repayment and sustainable financing tend to decrease as debt burdens rise. Moreover, IMF lending already comes with great political and economic costs.\n\n\u201cWe acknowledge that Treasury\u2019s approach to surcharge reform endeavors to find a balance between alleviating countries\u2019 debt burdens and maintaining IMF reserves. However, in our estimation, elimination of surcharge fees would not unduly harm the Fund\u2019s balance sheets. The IMF\u2019s precautionary balances target was recently met and will continue to grow above targeted levels even in the absence of surcharges.\u201d\n\nReps. Beatty and Garc\u00eda were joined by Reps. Sean Casten (IL-06), Emanuel Cleaver (MO-05), Rosa DeLauro (CT-03), Bill Foster (IL-11), Al Green (TX-09), Marcy Kaptur (OH-09), Brittany Pettersen (CO-07), Juan Vargas (CA-52), Nydia Vel\u00e1zquez (NY-07), Susan Wild (PA-07), and Nikema Williams (GA-05).\n\nTo see the full letter, click HERE.\n\nFor media inquiries, please contact Casandra.Johnson@mail.house.gov.", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-07T21:57:20Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://beatty.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/reps-beatty-and-garcia-lead-call-for-imf-surcharge-reform"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.250213012099266, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}