Political Quotes

“Madam Speaker, I rise today to bring attention to how the International Monetary Fund fuels Russia's war on Ukraine by providing them a blank check in the form of special drawing rights, or SDRs. Last week, I with 40 of my Republican colleagues in the House and the Senate, we wrote Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen urging that all IMF member countries not bail out Russia by facilitating the exchange of Russian SDRs with their own hard currency. Russia was handed a blank check of nearly $17 billion equivalent in SDRs by the IMF just last year and has an estimated total of $24 billion in SDR reserves. This should have never happened, Madam Speaker, and that is why I have been so adamant for years about limiting the issue of IMF special drawing rights. Earlier last week, the United States and other countries expanded economic sanctions against the Russian Central Bank, and while this is a late but welcome development, we must do more. For decades, Russia has been accumulating a war chest that includes gold, international reserves, and importantly, special drawing rights. And with the ruble tanking in open markets, the Kremlin's access to foreign currency reserves being cut off, these SDRs are one of the only remaining ways that Russia can access financial resources for its warmongering in the Ukraine. That is why now is the time for the U.S.…”