Breaking News: $63 Billion IMF Bailout Stripped Out Of Ukraine Aid Bill

The Washington Post - "Senate Democrats will remove provisions from a proposed aid package for Ukraine that would change how the United States provides money for the International Monetary Fund in order to ensure quicker passage of the measure, Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) .... Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) had earlier blamed the decision to drop the IMF provisions on the GOP-controlled House. "The House Republican leadership has made very clear, come hell or high water, regardless of the importance of the IMF to the Ukraine and future emergencies, that their politics doesn't permit to have the national security interests of the United States superseded," he told reporters. . . .

"Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) credited senators for developing "a decent amount of common ground" on providing assistance to Ukraine and has warned earlier Tuesday that the bill wouldn't be able to pass Congress if it continued to include the IMF language. . . .

"House, Speaker John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) on Tuesday accused Senate Democrats of trying to "slow the whole process down" by including the IMF provisions in their aid bill. The House passed an aid package two weeks ago that includes $1 billion in loan guarantees. Senators had amended that bill to include additional sanctions and the IMF language. ..."

Americans for Limited Government President Nathan Mehrens today praised Senate Republicans for stripping an additional $63 billion in new quota money for the International Monetary Fund (IMF) from a bill to offer a $1 billion loan guarantee to Ukraine: "There never was a good reason to hold up the Ukraine aid legislation in order to give another $63 billion to the IMF to bail out banks that foolishly lent money to bankrupt European governments. Senate Republicans are to be praised for insisting to Harry Reid that it be removed. It should have never been included in the first place. In the face of Russia's threats against Ukraine, it always was irresponsible to hold these loans hostage in order to achieve unrelated funding for the IMF, as if U.S. credibility abroad was something to be bargained with."

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Tags: Ukraine Aid Bill. IMF bailout, IMF, U.S House, US. Senate, Americans for Limited Government To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. and "Like" Facebook Page - Thanks!