S 954 ISRSCommentsClose CommentsPermalink

To authorize United States participation in the replenishment of resources of the International Development Association, and for other purposes.CommentsClose CommentsPermalink

May 1, 2009CommentsClose CommentsPermalink

Mr. KERRY (for himself and, Mr. LUGAR, and Mr. KAUFMAN) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Foreign RelationsCommentsClose CommentsPermalink

To authorize United States participation in the replenishment of resources of the International Development Association, and for other purposes.CommentsClose CommentsPermalink

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, CommentsClose CommentsPermalink

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

This Act may be cited as the ‘World Bank International Development Association Replenishment Act of 2009’.CommentsClose CommentsPermalink

SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS.

In this Act:CommentsClose CommentsPermalink





(1) GREENHOUSE GAS- The term ‘greenhouse gas’ means carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, sulfur hexafluoride, a perfluorocarbon, or a hydrofluorocarbon.CommentsClose CommentsPermalink





(2) MULTILATERAL DEVELOPMENT BANK- The term ‘multilateral development bank’ has the meaning given that term in section 1307 of the International Financial Institutions Act (22 U.S.C. 262m-7).CommentsClose CommentsPermalink

SEC. 3. EXPANSION OF CLIMATE CHANGE MITIGATION ACTIVITIES OF, AND USE OF GREENHOUSE GAS ACCOUNTING BY, MULTILATERAL DEVELOPMENT BANKS.

Title XIII of the International Financial Institutions Act (22 U.S.C. 262m et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following:CommentsClose CommentsPermalink

‘SEC. 1308. EXPANSION OF CLIMATE CHANGE MITIGATION ACTIVITIES OF, AND USE OF GREENHOUSE GAS ACCOUNTING BY, MULTILATERAL DEVELOPMENT BANKS.

‘(a) Use of Greenhouse Gas Accounting- The Secretary of the Treasury shall seek to ensure that multilateral development banks (as defined in section 1701(c)(4)) adopt and implement greenhouse gas accounting in analyzing the benefits and costs of individual projects (excluding those with de minimus greenhouse gas emissions) for which funding is sought from the bank.CommentsClose CommentsPermalink





‘(b) Sense of Congress- It is the sense of Congress that adopting and implementing greenhouse gas accounting includes--CommentsClose CommentsPermalink





‘(1) calculating net greenhouse gas flows;CommentsClose CommentsPermalink





‘(2) establishing uniform calculation techniques, with provision for modification as professional standards evolve;CommentsClose CommentsPermalink





‘(3) making public the calculation techniques and calculations;CommentsClose CommentsPermalink





‘(4) measuring greenhouse gas emissions of individual projects;CommentsClose CommentsPermalink





‘(5) considering global social costs of the emissions when evaluating the economic cost benefit of such projects; andCommentsClose CommentsPermalink





‘(6) performing greenhouse gas accounting for each such project.CommentsClose CommentsPermalink





‘(c) Expansion of Climate Change Mitigation Activities- The Secretary of the Treasury shall work to ensure that the multilateral development banks (as defined in section 1701(c)(4)) expand their activities supporting climate change mitigation by--CommentsClose CommentsPermalink





‘(1) expending support for low-cost, high-gain investments in energy efficiency and renewable energy;CommentsClose CommentsPermalink





‘(2) reviewing all proposed infrastructure investments to ensure that all opportunities for integrating viable energy efficiency measures have been considered;CommentsClose CommentsPermalink





‘(3) increasing the dialogue with the governments of developing countries regarding--CommentsClose CommentsPermalink





‘(A) analysis and policy measures needed for low carbon emission economic development; andCommentsClose CommentsPermalink





‘(B) reforms needed to promote private sector engagement in low-cost, high-gain renewable and energy efficiency investments; andCommentsClose CommentsPermalink





‘(4) integrate low carbon emission economic development objectives into multilateral development bank country strategies.CommentsClose CommentsPermalink





‘(d) Report to Congress- Not later than 1 year after the date of the enactment of this section, and annually thereafter, the Secretary of the Treasury shall submit a report on the status of efforts to implement this section to the Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate and the Committee on Financial Services of the House of Representatives.’.CommentsClose CommentsPermalink

SEC. 4. ANTI-CORRUPTION CAPACITY BUILDING.

The Secretary of the Treasury shall instruct the United States Executive Director at the World Bank to--CommentsClose CommentsPermalink





(1) urge the World Bank to help countries build capacity to investigate, adjudicate, and punish corruption and all crimes in a manner consistent with well-established law enforcement and judicial norms; andCommentsClose CommentsPermalink





(2) actively promote efforts to enhance and extend programs that improve recipient countries’ ability to prevent, investigate, and prosecute fraud and corruption, including in projects funded by the World Bank, through initiatives aimed at--CommentsClose CommentsPermalink





(A) building institutional capacity across recipient country government agencies;CommentsClose CommentsPermalink





(B) improving transparency and accountability mechanisms throughout government;CommentsClose CommentsPermalink





(C) promoting public education of the costs of corruption;CommentsClose CommentsPermalink





(D) encouraging recipient countries to adopt enforceable sanctions;CommentsClose CommentsPermalink





(E) supporting the judicial sector in low-income countries to include investigative and prosecutorial functions of the criminal justice system, as permitted by determinations of noninterference in political matters required by the World Bank Articles of Agreement; andCommentsClose CommentsPermalink





(F) developing additional tools for the detection of fraud and corruption in World Bank projects as additional preventative measures and to equip recipient countries with more real-time data to support in-country investigations at earlier stages of the project cycle.CommentsClose CommentsPermalink

SEC. 5. REPORTS ON PROCESS TO ADDRESS INSPECTION FUNCTIONS WITHIN THE MULTILATERAL DEVELOPMENT BANKS.

The Secretary of the Treasury shall instruct the United States Executive Director at each multilateral development bank to use the voice and vote of the United States to--CommentsClose CommentsPermalink





(1) encourage the World Bank Inspection Panel, the Compliance Advisor Ombudsman of the International Finance Corporation and Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency, the African Development Bank Independent Review Mechanism, the InterAmerican Development Bank Independent Investigation Mechanism, the Asian Development Bank Accountability Mechanism, and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development Independent Recourse Mechanism to include, if not done already, in their respective publications, an assessment of--CommentsClose CommentsPermalink





(A) the number of cases, key findings, and outcomes of completed inspection processes;CommentsClose CommentsPermalink





(B) the level and extent of participation of requesters and other affected people in the compliance investigation process, including the extent to which their concerns were raised before the Board and senior management of the bank;CommentsClose CommentsPermalink





(C) the level and extent of participation of requesters and other affected people in the problem-solving process, where applicable; andCommentsClose CommentsPermalink





(D) inclusion of stakeholders in the creation of action plans or remedial agreements to--CommentsClose CommentsPermalink





(i) remedy identified violations of the policies and procedures of the bank; andCommentsClose CommentsPermalink





(ii) address outstanding issues identified in a problem-solving process, if applicable; andCommentsClose CommentsPermalink





(2) strengthen the inspection mechanism in such development banks where the Department of the Treasury has identified weaknesses.CommentsClose CommentsPermalink

SEC. 6. EVALUATION.

(a) In General- The Secretary of the Treasury shall seek to ensure that multilateral development banks--CommentsClose CommentsPermalink





(1) rigorously evaluate the development impact of selected bank projects, programs, and financing operations; andCommentsClose CommentsPermalink





(2) use random assignment in conducting the evaluations described in paragraph (1), to the extent feasible.CommentsClose CommentsPermalink





(b) Sense of Congress- It is the sense of Congress that--CommentsClose CommentsPermalink





(1) multilateral development banks should rigorously evaluate the development impact of selected bank projects, programs, and financing operations;CommentsClose CommentsPermalink





(2) the evaluations described in paragraph (1) should--CommentsClose CommentsPermalink





(A) focus strategically on building a body of research-proven approaches that have sizeable, sustained impacts on important development outcomes; andCommentsClose CommentsPermalink





(B) use random assignment to the extent feasible; andCommentsClose CommentsPermalink





(3) multilateral development banks should issue an annual report or similar publication with details about--CommentsClose CommentsPermalink





(A) the questions being addressed;CommentsClose CommentsPermalink





(B) the rationale for selecting the projects, programs, and financing operations that are being evaluated;CommentsClose CommentsPermalink





(C) the methodologies used in the evaluations; andCommentsClose CommentsPermalink





(D) the findings from the completed evaluations.CommentsClose CommentsPermalink

SEC. 7. INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT ASSOCIATION.

The International Development Association Act (22 U.S.C. 284 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following:CommentsClose CommentsPermalink

‘SEC. 24. FIFTEENTH REPLENISHMENT.

‘(a) The United States Governor of the International Development Association is authorized to contribute, on behalf of the United States, $3,705,000,000 to the fifteenth replenishment of the resources of the Association, subject to obtaining the necessary appropriations.CommentsClose CommentsPermalink





‘(b) In order to pay for the United States contribution provided for in subsection (a), there are authorized to be appropriated $3,705,000,000 for payment by the Secretary of the Treasury.CommentsClose CommentsPermalink

‘SEC. 25. MULTILATERAL DEBT RELIEF.

‘(a) The Secretary of the Treasury is authorized to contribute, on behalf of the United States, not more than $356,000,000 to the International Development Association for the purpose of funding debt relief under the Multilateral Debt Relief Initiative in the period governed by the fifteenth replenishment of resources of the International Development Association, subject to obtaining the necessary appropriations and without prejudice to any funding arrangements in existence on the date of the enactment of this section.CommentsClose CommentsPermalink





‘(b) In order to pay for the United States contribution provided for in subsection (a), there are authorized to be appropriated, without fiscal year limitation, not more than $356,000,000 for payment by the Secretary of the Treasury.CommentsClose CommentsPermalink





‘(c) In this section, the term ‘Multilateral Debt Relief Initiative’ means the proposal set out in the G8 Finance Ministers’ Communique entitled ‘Conclusions on Development,’ done at London, June 11, 2005, and reaffirmed by G8 Heads of State at the Gleneagles Summit on July 8, 2005.’.CommentsClose CommentsPermalink

SEC. 8. COORDINATION OF DEVELOPMENT POLICY.

(a) Study- The Secretary of the Treasury, in coordination with the Secretary of State, the Administrator of the United States Agency for International Development, and other Federal agencies, as appropriate, shall conduct a study on the respective roles each agency plays in the formulation of United States policy concerning the development policy, programs, and activities of the World Bank Group.CommentsClose CommentsPermalink





(b) Report-CommentsClose CommentsPermalink





(1) SUBMISSION- Not later than 1 year after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of the Treasury shall submit a report that includes the results of the study conducted under subsection (a) to--CommentsClose CommentsPermalink





(A) the Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate; andCommentsClose CommentsPermalink





(B) the Committee on Financial Services of the House of Representatives.CommentsClose CommentsPermalink





(2) CONTENTS- The report submitted under paragraph (1) shall specifically address and evaluate the degree and extent of interagency coordination in the formulation and implementation of United States policy relating to the development activities of the World Bank Group.CommentsClose CommentsPermalink