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| House Republicans Balk at Wording in Obama Emergency Aid Package for Ukraine | |
| (about 1 hour later) | |
| WASHINGTON — An emergency aid package for the beleaguered Ukrainian government has become entangled in a partisan dispute over the International Monetary Fund, with House Republicans resisting President Obama’s personal pleas to extend the reach of a Ukraine rescue plan by including long-sought changes to the fund’s structure. | WASHINGTON — An emergency aid package for the beleaguered Ukrainian government has become entangled in a partisan dispute over the International Monetary Fund, with House Republicans resisting President Obama’s personal pleas to extend the reach of a Ukraine rescue plan by including long-sought changes to the fund’s structure. |
| The administration already has pledged $1 billion in United States loan guarantees to the government in Kiev, and the House responded quickly, approving an aid package on Thursday with overwhelming support from both parties. But House Republicans rebuffed the president on a request to include language that would extend a separate billion-dollar package of loans from the fund to $1.6 billion by expanding loan limits for countries like Ukraine. | The administration already has pledged $1 billion in United States loan guarantees to the government in Kiev, and the House responded quickly, approving an aid package on Thursday with overwhelming support from both parties. But House Republicans rebuffed the president on a request to include language that would extend a separate billion-dollar package of loans from the fund to $1.6 billion by expanding loan limits for countries like Ukraine. |
| A draft aid plan pending before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee does include the language. If it remains, House, Senate and White House negotiators will square off this week, as the government in Kiev teeters on the brink of a default. Adding to that tension, Congress intends to be on recess the following week. | A draft aid plan pending before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee does include the language. If it remains, House, Senate and White House negotiators will square off this week, as the government in Kiev teeters on the brink of a default. Adding to that tension, Congress intends to be on recess the following week. |
| “There’s been a lot of talk in Congress about these issues,” Mr. Obama said on Thursday. “Once again, I’m calling on Congress to follow up on these words with action, specifically to support the I.M.F.’s capacity to lend resources to Ukraine and to provide American assistance for the Ukrainian government so that they can weather this storm.” | “There’s been a lot of talk in Congress about these issues,” Mr. Obama said on Thursday. “Once again, I’m calling on Congress to follow up on these words with action, specifically to support the I.M.F.’s capacity to lend resources to Ukraine and to provide American assistance for the Ukrainian government so that they can weather this storm.” |
| The I.M.F. issue dates back to 2010, when Mr. Obama helped negotiate a “rebalancing” of influence at the fund, granting emerging powers like China, India and Brazil more power and expanding the borrowing quotas of countries like Ukraine. Since then, every nation that needed to approve the changes has done so but one, the United States, and without Washington’s approval, the changes are stuck. | The I.M.F. issue dates back to 2010, when Mr. Obama helped negotiate a “rebalancing” of influence at the fund, granting emerging powers like China, India and Brazil more power and expanding the borrowing quotas of countries like Ukraine. Since then, every nation that needed to approve the changes has done so but one, the United States, and without Washington’s approval, the changes are stuck. |
| Under the changes, the United States would shift $63 billion from the I.M.F.’s tightly controlled crisis fund to its general accounts, where a newly rebalanced board of directors would have more control and where countries participating in the fund would get more generous loan limits. Under a complicated system of formulas, Ukraine’s limits would rise about 60 percent, said Edwin M. Truman, a former Obama Treasury official now with the Peterson Institute for International Economics. | Under the changes, the United States would shift $63 billion from the I.M.F.’s tightly controlled crisis fund to its general accounts, where a newly rebalanced board of directors would have more control and where countries participating in the fund would get more generous loan limits. Under a complicated system of formulas, Ukraine’s limits would rise about 60 percent, said Edwin M. Truman, a former Obama Treasury official now with the Peterson Institute for International Economics. |
| In recent months, Democratic and Republican finance heavyweights have joined the administration’s pressure campaign, including Robert B. Zoellick, a former World Bank president and deputy secretary of state in President George W. Bush’s administration; two Bush Treasury secretaries, Henry M. Paulson Jr. and John W. Snow; and Nicholas F. Brady, a Treasury secretary in the administration of the first President Bush. | In recent months, Democratic and Republican finance heavyweights have joined the administration’s pressure campaign, including Robert B. Zoellick, a former World Bank president and deputy secretary of state in President George W. Bush’s administration; two Bush Treasury secretaries, Henry M. Paulson Jr. and John W. Snow; and Nicholas F. Brady, a Treasury secretary in the administration of the first President Bush. |
| But House Republicans have balked, fearing a loss of American influence and more taxpayer exposure as loan limits rise. Influential Republicans such as Representative Jeb Hensarling of Texas, chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, have expressed strong philosophical opposition to American support for international lending institutions that they say are using American taxpayers’ money to bail out irresponsible countries. | But House Republicans have balked, fearing a loss of American influence and more taxpayer exposure as loan limits rise. Influential Republicans such as Representative Jeb Hensarling of Texas, chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, have expressed strong philosophical opposition to American support for international lending institutions that they say are using American taxpayers’ money to bail out irresponsible countries. |
| “Regardless of the wisdom, many Americans now rightfully question our ability to continue supporting multilateral financial institutions like the I.M.F.,” Mr. Hensarling told Treasury Secretary Jacob J. Lew in December during the administration’s last push for the new I.M.F. language. | “Regardless of the wisdom, many Americans now rightfully question our ability to continue supporting multilateral financial institutions like the I.M.F.,” Mr. Hensarling told Treasury Secretary Jacob J. Lew in December during the administration’s last push for the new I.M.F. language. |
| Michael Steel, a spokesman for Speaker John A. Boehner, said the fund “already has the authority and resources” it needed to act in Ukraine. “The White House is trying to use this crisis to press for a separate and unrelated policy they have long pursued,” Mr. Steel said. | Michael Steel, a spokesman for Speaker John A. Boehner, said the fund “already has the authority and resources” it needed to act in Ukraine. “The White House is trying to use this crisis to press for a separate and unrelated policy they have long pursued,” Mr. Steel said. |
| Last month, Russia tried to use this intransigence in Congress as a wedge in the international community. At a gathering of finance ministers in Australia, the Russian finance minister, Anton Siluanov, suggested that the I.M.F. move forward with the changes without the United States, and end Washington’s veto authority at the fund. | Last month, Russia tried to use this intransigence in Congress as a wedge in the international community. At a gathering of finance ministers in Australia, the Russian finance minister, Anton Siluanov, suggested that the I.M.F. move forward with the changes without the United States, and end Washington’s veto authority at the fund. |
| At the same gathering, Mr. Lew found himself at once cajoling allies to go to Ukraine’s aid and trying to explain why the United States had failed to approve the fund changes it had negotiated, said Mr. Truman, the former Treasury official. | At the same gathering, Mr. Lew found himself at once cajoling allies to go to Ukraine’s aid and trying to explain why the United States had failed to approve the fund changes it had negotiated, said Mr. Truman, the former Treasury official. |
| “On the one hand we want the fund to be there,” Mr. Truman said. “We leverage money from other countries to make sure it is strong and available. At the same time we see no merit in passing the legislation that we promised.” | “On the one hand we want the fund to be there,” Mr. Truman said. “We leverage money from other countries to make sure it is strong and available. At the same time we see no merit in passing the legislation that we promised.” |
| To administration officials, the Ukraine crisis has made the need for the fund changes tangible. In January, Mr. Lew pressed hard to include the I.M.F. language in a $1 trillion spending bill for the current fiscal year. Republicans countered with demands that the administration would not accept, including a delay or suspension of proposed new regulations governing the political activities of tax-exempt organizations. | To administration officials, the Ukraine crisis has made the need for the fund changes tangible. In January, Mr. Lew pressed hard to include the I.M.F. language in a $1 trillion spending bill for the current fiscal year. Republicans countered with demands that the administration would not accept, including a delay or suspension of proposed new regulations governing the political activities of tax-exempt organizations. |
| In the past days, administration officials and their allies have ramped up again. Senior White House officials reached out to Mr. Boehner last week, pressing the case that with the changes, Ukraine’s $1 billion loan package would expand to $1.6 billion. American credibility at the fund, battered by the delay, could also be restored. | In the past days, administration officials and their allies have ramped up again. Senior White House officials reached out to Mr. Boehner last week, pressing the case that with the changes, Ukraine’s $1 billion loan package would expand to $1.6 billion. American credibility at the fund, battered by the delay, could also be restored. |
| “At a time when the U.S. is at the forefront of international calls in urging the fund to play a central and active first responder role in Ukraine, it is imperative that we secure passage of I.M.F. legislation now,” Mr. Lew told the House Ways and Means Committee on Thursday. | “At a time when the U.S. is at the forefront of international calls in urging the fund to play a central and active first responder role in Ukraine, it is imperative that we secure passage of I.M.F. legislation now,” Mr. Lew told the House Ways and Means Committee on Thursday. |