When Congress returns in 1998, one of the first issues that will be dealt with is whether Congress should okay President Clinton's plan to use our tax dollars to bail out the failing Asian markets through the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The President has said that the IMF can "prop up" the failing markets of South Korea and Thailand if we just give them $3.5 BILLION dollars in U.S. funds. This is ridiculous! The IMF is nothing more than a bailout of the powerful New York bankers who have lost money because of unwise investments overseas.

       In November -- before leaving for the session -- Congress rejected Clinton's request for increased IMF funding and the payment of the U.N. arrears because Clinton would not accept restrictions on the international family planning funds. Pro-life Congressman Chris Smith has exacted a promise from Speaker Gingrich that these issues will remain permanently linked so that the President must accept the pro-life restrictions before Congress will pass the IMF and U.N. funding. We support Congressman Smith's efforts in this area but would go one step further . . . NO money for the IMF, NO money for the United Nations, and NO money for international family planning without pro-life restrictions!

IMF Loans = Global Welfare

       The purpose of the IMF is to loan money to countries experiencing monetary crisis (like in the case of the Mexican bailout several years ago) with strict mandates by the loaners so that the country can get its financial house in order. But the IMF has become a global welfare system, creating a dependency by Third World countries by bailing out the banks that lose money in unstable markets.

       Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin believes that an IMF bailout of South Korea, Indonesia and Thailand will stop the economic crisis in Asia. However, studies have shown that more than half of the 89 Third World countries that received IMF loans did not improve economically. The truth is that more than one third of those nations are worse off economically than they were before they received the IMF loans. In short, the IMF does not help the very countries it purports to, and Congress must reject President Clinton's request for more money for the IMF.

There is No U.S. Debt to the U.N.

       There is no doubt that the White House was embarrassed in November by the defeat of the funding for the IMF and the United Nations, and that Clinton will be pushing hard to win these votes in the new year. The Senate version of the U.N. bailout bill is to take $819 million of taxpayers money and hand it over to the United Nations under the guise that we owe the U.N. a debt. These debt payments will come in installments of $100 million (fiscal year 1998), $475 million (fiscal year 1999), and $244 million (fiscal year 2000). In the House, Representative Bartlett (R-MD) will again offer amendments to the Commerce, Justice, and State Appropriation bill to strip the payment of phony "back dues" to the U.N. A General Accounting Office (GAO) study shows that the U.N. actually owes the United States a debt. According to the GAO figures, the U.S. is owed at least $4.8 billion for assistance that we provided to the U.N. for peacekeeping missions for which we have never received credit or reimbursement. Both the House and the Senate should reject the payments to the U.N. and stand up for the American taxpayers.

ACTION: Contact Your Congressman and Senators during this recess period and tell them to vote AGAINST the U.N. phony "dues" and the IMF bailout, and to vote FOR the pro-life restrictions on the international family planning funds! Tell them to stand up to Clinton on ALL three items and NOT trade American sovereignty, taxpayers money or innocent human lives to the globalists in the White House.

Capitol Switchboard: 1-888-723-5246 or 202-224-3121