.SenJohnKennedy is looking for answers about why the Biden administration supported a plan to provide the International Monetary Fund's internal currency to adversaries such as Russia, Iran, and China.
Kennedy, a Louisiana Republican, told the Washington Examiner that not enough attention has been paid to the fact that the administration backed the allocation of $650 billion in special drawing rights through the International Monetary Fund. The SDRs can be exchanged by the recipient countries for U.S. dollars and other major currencies.
“We ought to hold hearings and ask why they’re doing this,” the senator said, adding that he repeatedly questioned Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on the matter while she was on Capitol Hill. “There is some reason they wanted to do this, this is a gift to Iran, it’s a gift to China.”The push behind the new SDRs was to provide poor nations struggling with the fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic relief and to boost global liquidity.
Kennedy called the SDRs a “gift card” that leaders like Russia’s Vladimir Putin can present and redeem for funds. “The United States is committed to taking all measures to prevent Russia from benefitting from its holdings of IMF SDRs,” the official said. “As a result of sanctions by the United States and our partners, the Russian regime would face significant, even insurmountable, hurdles to use its SDRs.”
When contacted by the Washington Examiner for comment, the Treasury Department pointed to a March letter it sent to Rep. French Hill, an Arkansas Republican. In the letter, assistant Treasury secretary for legislative affairs Jonathan Davidson said the U.S. is committed to preventing Putin benefit from its IMF SDR holdings.
“Congress is responsible for stewarding taxpayer money, and this bill would stop the Biden administration from making an end run around the Constitution on behalf of the world’s worst dictators. Oppressive, hostile regimes work to undermine America’s safety and success every day, but the White House shouldn’t be helping them,” said Kennedy last June when he introduced the bill.
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