U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
|
| FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE March 31, 2003 |
Contact: Jennifer Porter Gore Kay Gibbs |
House Panel Holds Hearing on Chile and Singapore Trade Agreements
|
| WASHINGTON – The subcommittee on Domestic and International Monetary Policy, Trade and Technology of the House Financial Services Committee will hold a hearing on the recently concluded U.S.-Chile and U.S.-Singapore Free Trade Agreements, which will come before the U.S. House of Representatives for a vote later this year. Democratic members of the committee have focused their concerns on the United States’ severe restrictions on the use of capital controls in the agreements, a policy that Barney Frank, the Ranking Democrat on the Financial Services Committee calls “deeply misguided.”
Capital controls have been used as a short-term measure to temporarily prevent capital flight during financial crises in developing countries. After the global financial crisis of 1997-98, international finance experts, including those at the International Monetary Fund, concluded that capital controls can and should be used in some circumstances to limit the destabilizing effects of “hot money.” The subcommittee will hear from witnesses from the U.S. Department of the Treasury and the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative. Jagdish Bhagwati, Ph.D., a distinguished professor of economics at Columbia University, and Daniel Tarullo, Professor of Law at Georgetown University and former economic advisor in the Clinton Administration, will testify in opposition to the ban on capital controls. Nobel Prize Laureate Joseph E. Stiglitz, Ph.D., has submitted a written statement also opposing the government’s limitation in the agreements. [Dr. Stiglitz’s statement.] Late last year, Congressman Frank joined with senior Democrats from the House Ways and Means Committee in writing to Robert Zoellick, the U.S. Trade Representative, and John Taylor, Treasury Undersecretary, to oppose the Administration’s position on capital controls and to point out the potentially destabilizing effect that short-term capital outflows can have on developing economies and the global financial system. [Copy of letter here.] The Domestic and International Monetary Policy, Trade and Technology Subcommittee hearing is scheduled for Tuesday, April 1 at 10 a.m. in room 2128 Rayburn House Office Building. -30- The Committee oversees all components of the nation’s housing and financial services sectors including banking, insurance, real estate, public and assisted housing, and securities. The Committee continually reviews the laws and programs relating to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, the Federal Reserve Bank, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and international development and finance agencies such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. The Committee also ensures enforcement of housing and consumer protection laws such as the U.S. Housing Act, the Truth In Lending Act, the Housing and Community Development Act, the Fair Credit Reporting Act, the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act, the Community Reinvestment Act, and financial privacy laws. |
| Previous | ||
| Press Release List | |